Wagner Group Vows 'Revenge' After Prigozhin's Death

Members of the notorious Wagner Group have vowed revenge after Russian authorities said its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was a passenger on an aircraft that crashed over the Tver region on Wednesday evening, killing everyone on board.

The "Mozhem Obyasnit" (We Can Explain) Russian Telegram news channel reported on Thursday that Wagner members are plotting to take revenge on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over Prigozhin's reported death. Other Telegram channels linked to the Wagner Group vowed to capture the Kremlin should Prigozhin's death be confirmed.

A private jet belonging to Prigozhin, which had been traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region exactly two months after he led a failed uprising against the Kremlin's top brass, calling out the military leadership for incompetence in Putin's war in Ukraine. The mutiny, which Prigozhin called a "March of Justice," marked the most serious challenge to Putin's rule since he came to power in 1999.

All 10 people on board the plane—seven passengers and three crew members—died in the incident, Russia's emergencies ministry said. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately clear. Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said Prigozhin was on the list of passengers.

The Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported that Prigozhin was killed, but his death hasn't yet been officially confirmed.

The Kremlin hasn't commented on the reports of Prigozhin's death. Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign and defense ministries via email for comment.

In the aftermath of the crash, the Telegram channel of the protest movement "Wagner Play" accused Putin of killing Prigozhin and vowed a second uprising against the Kremlin.

"There are rumors about the death of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin. We directly say that we suspect the Kremlin officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him!" the channel said in a post on Thursday evening.

"If the information about Prigozhin's death is confirmed, we will organize a second 'March of Justice' on Moscow! He'd better be alive, it's in your own interests...."

Another video circulating on Russian Telegram channels showed a group of men claiming to members of the Wagner Group.

"There's a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do. We can tell you one thing, we are getting started, get ready for us," the masked men warned.

The "Mozhem Obyasnit" channel noted that the pro-Kremlin publication Readovka, associated with Prigozhin, reported that the paramilitary outfit has a "long-established approved mechanism of action in the event of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin" or Dmitry Utkin—Prigozhin's right-hand man who helped establish the group in 2014.

The channel said its own source confirms this, adding that there will be a "full mobilization" mechanism in the event of Prigozhin's death, regardless of who is responsible.

Edward Lucas, a non-resident senior fellow and senior adviser at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told Newsweek that the reports of Prigozhin's death represent "the latest twist in the low-intensity Russian civil war that has been under way for months.

"In a stable political system you do not deal with your opponents by shooting down their plane with an anti-aircraft missile. This shows that violence is now at the heart of Russia's political system."

Lucas also said that another uprising such as Prigozhin's failed mutiny in June, could be possible, but "it won't be the same."

"But the system is brittle and another crack is inevitable," he said. "This is not the end of the story. Everyone who can afford it has a private army now. Wagnerites will not accept dissolution or disgrace. Everyone in Putin's inner circle is paranoid, rightly, wondering who will be next."

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