Kremlin’s revenge? Merc who marched to Moscow killed

Officials carry a body bag away from the wreckage of the crashed private jet. Pic/AP

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and top officers of his private Wagner military company were presumed dead in a plane crash that was widely seen as an assassination, two months after their mutiny that dented President Vladimir Putin's authority.

Russia's civil aviation agency said that Prigozhin and six top lieutenants were on a business jet that crashed on Wednesday, soon after taking off from Moscow, with a crew of three. Rescuers found all 10 bodies and Wagner confirmed his death.

Police cordoned off the area north of Moscow, as investigators studied the site. At Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, lights were turned on in the shape of a large cross. Prigozhin's supporters brought flowers to the building in an improvised memorial. US and other Western officials long expected Putin to go after Prigozhin, despite promising to drop charges in a deal that ended the June 23-24 mutiny.

Prigozhin supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed, suggesting it could have been hit by an air defense missile or targeted by a bomb on board.

Norway to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine

NATO-member Norway will donate F-16 jets to Ukraine, amid its difficult counteroffensive against Russia, as per reports. The reports came as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was visiting Kyiv but there was no official confirmation. Norway will be the third EU country after the Netherlands and Denmark to donate F-16s.

From ‘Putin's chef' to ‘Russian outlaw'

Prigozhin was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981. When he got out, he opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. Putin was the city's deputy mayor at the time. He used the connection to develop a catering business and won lucrative Russian government contracts that earned him the nickname "Putin's chef". He later expanded into other areas, including Wagner group.

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