Consequences of Prigozhin's death for Wagner group - British intelligence
Yevgeny Prigozhin was an indispensable cruel leader of Wagner PMC (Getty Images)
According to the UK Ministry of Defense, the likely death of Yevgeny Prigozhin will have a deeply destabilizing effect on the Wagner Group.
The UK Ministry of Defense wrote that on 23 August 2023, exactly two months after the Wagner Group’s mutiny, a Wagner-associated Embraer business jet crashed near Tver, between Moscow and St Petersburg. The Russian authorities claim 10 people on board died, including Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin.
There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures. However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead.
According to the UK intelligence data, the demise of Prigozhin would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect on the Wagner Group. 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," reports the UK intelligence.
