Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin took revenge for the humiliation of the Wagner Group's mutiny and ordered the assassination of their leadership.
Ten bodies have been recovered from the site of a Russian plane crash, state media has said, with a number of high-profile members of the Wagner mercenary group reportedly on board.
The passenger manifest of the plane that went down in Russia is essentially a who's who of Wagner mercenaries, including its second-in-command, who baptized the group with his nom de guerre, as well as the logistics chief, a fighter wounded by U.S. airstrikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard. In all, the other passengers included six of Prigozhin's lieutenants, along with the three-member flight crew. “The decision to put so many senior-level people on one plane was a poor decision, as key figures should always fly separately," said Lou Osborn, author of a forthcoming book on the mercenaries.