Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries has been “deeply destabilised” by the loss of chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is “unlikely to be matched by any successor”, the UK has said.
The warlord is “highly likely” to have died in a plane crash north-west of Moscow on Wednesday, the British Ministry of Defence said.
It warned there was “not yet definitive proof” that Mr Prigozhin was on board the plane, but concluded reports of his death were credible.
Mr Prigozhin's name was one of 10 on a passenger list shared by Russia’s aviation agency. Several top Wagner lieutenants were also on board the aircraft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the family of Prigozhin on Thursday, but described him as a flawed character who had made some bad mistakes.
A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, which had previously carried propaganda videos of his fighters, said he was deceased.
Mr Prigozhin, once a close friend of Mr Putin, led a failed uprising against the Kremlin in June because he disagreed with the way Moscow was conducting its war in Ukraine.
The incident was deeply embarrassing for Mr Putin on the world stage.
The UK said Mr Prigozhin had exercised “extreme brutality” and dedication to the war effort and would not be rivalled by any replacement.
“The demise of Prigozhin would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect on the Wagner Group,” the Ministry of Defence said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“His personal attributes of hyper-activity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor.
“Wagner’s leadership vacuum would be compounded by the reports that founder and field commander Dimitry Utkin and logistics chief Valery Chekalov also died.”
The doomed plane was a private Embraer jet carrying seven passengers and three crew members, Russia’s emergency services ministry said.
Flight data shows the jet had climbed to an altitude of some 28,000 feet before it suddenly stopped transmitting tracking information.
Eight bodies have been recovered at the crash site in Russia’s western Tver region, state media said.
The plane “burned up” on impact, the official state news agency TASS reported.
Following hours of speculation about the presumed death of the Wagner leader, US President Joe Biden on Thursday pointed the finger of blame at Mr Putin.
Mr Biden said he was “not surprised” by the reports of the Wagner leader’s death, adding: “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”
The Pentagon’s spokesman Brig Gen Patrick Ryder said on Thursday afternoon: “Our initial assessment is that it’s likely Prigozhin was killed.”
Due to his high profile, which only increased after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Prigozhin had many enemies.
The BBC cited UK defence sources as saying Mr Prigozhin’s plane was “most likely” brought down by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet KGB. The Ministry of Defence in London declined to comment on the claims.
His death has given rise to questions about the future of Wagner.
A day before the plane crash, a Russian official visited Libya to reassure allies that fighters from the Wagner Group would remain in the country – but under Moscow's control.
During a meeting in Benghazi, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov told eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar on Tuesday that Wagner fighters would report to a new commander, a Libyan official with knowledge of the meeting said.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The Greatest Royal Rumble card
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
