The Russian warlord at the head of the Wagner mercenary group that had been operating in several African countries has been reportedly killed in a business jet crash northwest of Moscow on Wednesday (23 August). Wagner Group’s founders, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin were included in the list of passengers of the crashed flight, but it was not immediately clear if Prigozhin had boarded the flight. Some reports have indicated that the plane was downed by Russian air defenses. If finally confirmed, the death in a plane crash of the man who humiliated Putin comes as little surprise to most Russia observers, but many now question if his mercenary group can survive without him. While the Kremlin recently has been more directly courting the military leaders of countries in the Sahel itself, much of Wagner’s African empire relied on the unscrupulous connections that Prigozhin and his close associates had forged over the years.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 24, 2023 14:24 UTC