WSJ: Nikolai Patrushev organized the elimination of Pryzhyn
Kyiv • UNN
The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev organized the assassination of Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prygozhin, according to Western intelligence. Prihodzhin's plane was allegedly bombed, resulting in a plane crash that killed all ten people on board.
The assassination of the founder of the Wagner PMC, businessman Yevhen Pryhodzhyn, was organized by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources in Western intelligence agencies, UNN reports.
Details
According to the newspaper, Patrushev began warning Putin in the summer of 2022 about the threat of the growing influence of the Prigogine. However, the president did not heed his words, as the Wagner PMC mercenaries were, as the Kremlin believed, making progress on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Everyone told Putin that having a parallel army was a mistake. When he (Prygozhin) spits in the face of the military leadership every day, you have problems
According to the newspaper's source, a former Russian intelligence officer, the situation changed in October 2022. At that time, Prygozhin allegedly called Putin and complained in a rude manner about the shortage of ammunition, which was causing heavy losses. Patrushev was in Putin's office at the time.
Putin ignored Prygozhin's subsequent complaints about the supply of Wagner PMCs, including public conflicts with the Russian Defense Ministry, the newspaper writes. In June 2023, when Prypogozin started a mutiny, Patrushev saw it as an opportunity to get rid of the head of the PMC and "took over," the article states.
The newspaper claims that after the mercenaries' withdrawal to Belarusian territory was agreed upon through the mediation of Alexander Lukashenko and the president promised to stop the persecution of the rebels, Patrushev began to develop a plan to kill Pryzhozhin.
In early August, Patrushev ordered his assistant to develop a plan to eliminate Prigozhin, an unnamed former Russian intelligence an unnamed former Russian intelligence officer told the newspaper. Western intelligence agencies claim that Putin was later shown the document was later shown to Putin and he did not deny it.
On August 23, Wagner's leader waited at Sheremetyevo airport until his plane was being checked and prepared for departure. It was then, according to WSJ's interlocutors in Western intelligence agencies claim that a small bomb was placed under the wing.
Half an hour after takeoff, the plane crashed in the Tver region. All ten people on board were killed in the crash.
Recall
The Kremlin denies any involvement. In October, Putin claimed that Pryzhin and Utkin blew up their plane with hand grenades themselves.
