It was probably NATO/nazi assassination for "Ukrainian Independence Day" and the elimination of leaders of Wagner is a blow to larger liberation efforts in Africa. Read this article to get what I mean:
https://www.indianpunchline.com/whos-afraid-of-prigozhin-and-wagner/
"In the excessive zeal to focus on Prigozhin’s murder to demonise Putin, what is overlooked is that whoever choreographed the crime also ensured that Wagner’s entire command structure has been eliminated. Bye, bye, Africa!
There isn’t going to be anyone in the foreseeable future to challenge the hegemony of the French Legion in the Sahel or match the vast network of 29 bases under Pentagon’s Africa Command spread across the continent from Djibouti in the north to Botswana in the south. Put differently, the long arm of Russia’s “smart power” has been chopped off with one single swing of the blade. Who stands to gain?
Third, Prigozhin’s murder was staged on a special day that in a historical perspective, must be counted as the finest hour of Russian diplomacy ever since the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. The reality of “a new starting point for BRICS” — as Chinese President Xi Jinping stated — is yet to sink in fully, but what is beyond doubt is that Russia is walking away as the winner.
Make no mistake that the BRICS unity held firm and rubbished all western prognosis; BRICS expansion means that the issue of a single settlement currency is on the table, and the international financial system is not going to be the same again; de-dollarisation is knocking at the gates; a new global trading system is taking shape which renders obsolete the exploitative 4-century old western regime geared to transfer wealth to the rich countries; BRICS has graduated, finally, from an informal club to an institution that will eclipse the G7.
...
Isn’t it plain common sense that of all days, Putin would never have chosen Wednesday to act as spoiler when Russia’s prestige was soaring high in the international community? Again, the question arises: Who stands to gain?
The plain truth is, there could be any number of people who wanted to physically eliminate Prigozhin. Within Russia itself, Prigozhin had recruited hardened criminals undergoing prison sentence to fight in Ukraine and thereby get their sentence commuted. He deployed them without adequate military training, and over 10,000 of them reportedly got killed. There is a deep sense of revulsion within Russia in the matter.
Then there are the external enemies starting from France, which has been virtually evicted from the Sahel region, its playpen where it had a field day as the ex-colonial power until Prigozhin came and spoiled the party. France could barely hide its rancour toward Russia ever since then.
Meanwhile, the brewing crisis in Niger alerted the US that Prigozhin was on the prowl. The redoubtable acting secretary of state Victoria Nuland, who masterminded the 2014 coup in Ukraine, travelled to Niamey to plead with the coup leaders not to have any truck with Wagner.
However, Prigozhin reportedly had sneaked into the neighbouring country, Mali, where Wagner is well established, with a view to establish contact with Niger’s new rulers and offer the services of Wagner. Suffice to say, Prigozhin was threatening to do to the Pentagon what he earlier did to the French Legion in Sahel.
It is entirely conceivable that the Biden administration decided that enough was enough and Wagner must be decapitated. Of course, Prigozhin’s departure along with his core group of senior commanders will incalculably weaken Wagner.
Meanwhile, within Russia, the ruthless Ukranian intelligence operates at different levels. The drone attacks on Moscow are being staged by saboteurs within Russia. And Ukraine too has a score to settle with Wagner, which is establishing itself in Belarus.
Without doubt, there is a congruence of interests between the Ukrainian intelligence and its western mentors to destroy Wagner and eliminate it from the geopolitical chessboard altogether."
Edit: commentary
I think the celebratory responses and people immediately saying repeating imperialist media about "Putin Assassination" reveals a deep-seated anti-Russia arrogance endemic to the platform and European / USian dominated spaces generally.
This is probably the best take on this that i have read so far. Covers all the bases. Well done.
His death is a pretty good murder mystery plot since he has so many enemies, any of whom easily have the power to set up a plane crash.
In addition to the Ukrainians and NATOids in general, Putin, obviously. He also made very public enemies of Shoigu and Gerasimov who would have the ability to down a private jet off the books quite easily.
And just think, if he's got the type of personality to publicly feud with the heads of the military in war time, how many people has he pissed off behind the scenes? Maybe it was just an old enemy who calculated that he now didn't have the protection of Putin.
Might be part of the deal he made forever ago so he wouldn't be a target, like a faked death, or he's just a big dumb dumb. Who knows, who cares, the federation's still gonna be doing it's stuff. Respectfully, this stuff happens all the time there I think, thank the west for destroying the Soviet Union.
of course, this comes from pure conjecture because the facts haven't been laid out yet. But I highly doubt the plane crash was orchestrated by Russian officials.
Russia's doing really good in the international community right now (not the NATO one, the actual one) and is winning their war. The only thing Russia has going in the international sphere right now are reasons to celebrate. Meanwhile, NATO's suffering a major defeat in Ukraine, the international community is trying to distance themselves from dependency on NATO, etc.
Who benefits the most from Prigozhin's death is the West. Already they've used it to stir the pot against Russia. Without Wagner Group's leadership, they've been significantly weakened, this matters because they've been the powerhouse of the Ukraine war, and because they could become a major obstacle to regaining colonial control over Niger. WG's leader being murdered also furthens the division between the Russian State and the mercenary group, NATO could harness this to their advantage. It could also increase the risk of civil emergency, as those who saw themselves as being more loyal to Prigozhin than Putin could seek retribution if they believed Putin was to blame.
It's not unheard of within Russian politics for opposition to be assassinated, so the chance exists for this to be that. But I really don't think Putin nor his strategists would think killing Prigozhin is a good idea. At least not while NATO's looking for any reason to up the war effort, and tensions in Africa could escalate.
i heard that his plane was likely sabotaged, and one of the suspects are other people from wagner. hes antics making headlines worldwide and political interests in crimea region led to conflicts with russian gov, this all made him to larger than wagner and put it in a tough spot.
anyway that is one take, imma watch the livestream about it again, and maybe write more here. the guy had an absurd long list of enemies, and since he became a folkloric character, no matter what people say, people will always say it is a lie
He wasn't really a Nazi though. That's just something Ukrolibs say to try to both sides Ukraine's Nazism.
Anyone who has ties to Vlad Putin by definition has ties to the far right. That being said, far right and Nazi aren't exactly the same thing all the time even if there is a big overlap most of the time.
To me, Kremlin denials aside, it seems very obvious this is retaliation from Putin following the weird coup attempt earlier this summer. Personally I think I'd rather Wagner be one step closer to nationalization but I'm open to being wrong.
I'm also leaning towards his death being an assassination but I'm a bit ignorant about the whole situation so I don't hold any strong opinions.
I am pretty confident that neither Putin nor any official branch of the Russian government had anything to do with it, for multiple reasons that other commentators have already laid out at length in what has been written about this online. It wouldn't make sense for them to do it this way or at this specific time.
Could it be rogue elements in the Russian military or intelligence with some personal vendetta or acting in the misguided belief that this is what Putin would want or what is best for Russia? Maybe. Could even be internal Wagner resentment towards the leadership.
But if i had to bet i would still say the likeliest culprits are forces outside of Russia. Ukraine's SBU are the most obvious suspects since they have both a history of assassinations and a deep hatred of Wagner which they blame for their loss of Bakhmut.
However i also wouldn't be surprised if the West (French/British?) had a hand in this, though if they thought that by doing this they could create some instability in Russia, bad PR for Putin, or somehow hamper Wagner operations in Africa or elsewhere i think they miscalculated.
Not only did Wagner almost certainly have contingency plans for this sort of situation, but if anything this will just drive Wagner into an even quicker integration with the official Russian military, they will appoint new management and whatever previous contracts they had with various countries will continue smoothly.
I honestly wouldnt be suprised if it was an internal shit fight in wagner or russian military sending a message and putin actually didnt have anything to do with it/it wasnt ordered by him.
I feel putins assasinations tend to lack colleteral damage, I dont see putin authorizing killing two commercial pilots when he could have just shot who he wanted or easily imprisoned them for treason ect.
Im also open to the possibility putin did it too; not outside the remit of possibility, its almost impossible to tell.
I dont see putin authorizing killing two commercial pilots when he could have just shot who he wanted or easily imprisoned them for treason ect.
I especially don't see him doing it now, on the cusp of reinvigorated action in the Sahel region. Wagner humiliated France; and to me, it makes the most logical sense that the State Department would want to decapitate that dragon before the same could happen to them-- which all things considered, it still could if the next few links in the chain of command under Prigozhin are still intact, and move on the same accord that he would've.
It wasn't really a coup attempt as such, was it? Weren't they specifically going for certain people in the DoD and not Putin and the other guys at the top?
Either way, yeah, the whole thing was weird as fuck lol
If a merc oligarch can decide who gets to lead the armed forces against the president's wishes who is really in charge of the country? Even if Prigo did't depose Putin it would be clear who the real boss was.
Umm, reality check sweaty? They're the bad guys. Faking a death is exactly what the bad guys do in the movies so they can show up at the end?
Prigo the Gonzaloite Hoxhaist Ultraleft revolutionary (he was actually Wisconcom all along)
“With a few such pencil strokes — and eraser rubbings — Wisconcom had turned the mighty Prigozhin into an invincible shield of anti-revisionism and his plane crash into a mere suggestion.”