On June 24 this year, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, marched his troops to within 200 kilometres of Moscow, protesting against the Russian Defence Ministry. This was the most noteworthy challenge to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin ever since he took over power in 1999. The mutiny ended within a day with the intervention of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Wagner Group was exiled to Belarus in exchange for criminal immunity.
Speculation, reactions, Putin’s response
Two months later, Russian officials confirmed that Prigozhin had died in a plane crash near Moscow along with other top officials of Wagner, that included Dmitry Utkin, the co-founder of the group and a former military intelligence officer who was in charge of Wagner’s operations, and Valery Chekalov, its security chief. Speculation is rife within Russia and abroad about who is responsible for the death of the popular leader (Prigozhin was often photographed with soldiers on the battlefield in sharp contrast to top officials in the Russian Defence Ministry). While the West has put the blame on Mr. Putin, the Kremlin has denied any responsibility and has launched an investigation.
