HISTORY

Burning wreckage of the Embraer EMB-135BJ Legacy 600 with registration RA-02795 in which Prigozhin and other members of the Wagner leadership died.

The Russian pilot received a reward of half

a million US dollars, a new identity and a job.

The new Mi-8AMTS has been incorporated

into Ukraine’s forces. After landing, Kuzminov

talked about the absurd conditions in the

Russian armed forces. For example, the

commander of his unit had his cat flown in

by a Mi-8 helicopter, which was additionally

accompanied by Mi-24 as an armed escort

during this “mission”.

Revenge after two months

The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner

of the Wagner mercenary group, can also be

counted among the losses related to the war

in Ukraine. He was killed in a plane crash

along with other members of his mercenary

leadership exactly two months after the failed

coup attempt. The private Embraer EMB-135BJ

Legacy 600, registration RA-02795, was flying

from Moscow to St Petersburg on Wednesday,

August 23, when it broke into three parts after

an explosion and crashed near the village of

Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, some 100 km

north of the Russian capital.

The plane’s crash was caught on video.

Two condensation trails and a puff of white

smoke were visible in the sky, followed by

two explosions, according to witnesses. Then

the fuselage of the plane was seen falling

to the ground without one half of the wing

and without tail. During the crash, it twisted

wildly in the air – just like the Il-22M shot

down by the Wagners on June 24 during the

march on Moscow. The fuselage, wing and

tail fell on different places within a radius

of three kilometers. The fuselage burned up

after impact, killing all ten people on board.

In addition to Prigozhin, these included his

deputy and well-known neo-Nazi Dmitry Utkin

and Wagner’s logistics chief Valery Chekalov.

The two pilots and a stewardess also perished.

Russian Mi-8AMTS with fuselage number “Red 62” and code designation RF-04438

shortly after landing on Ukrainian territory.

If this was a political assassination, there was

state terrorism in Russia regardless of these

innocent victims.

Wagner channels reported that the plane

was shot down by anti-aircraft missiles.

Some Western sources are leaning towards

a bomb explosion on board. Traces resembling

shrapnel holes could be seen on the wreckage.

The Russian authorities are not making much

effort to investigate. A request for access

by Brazil manufacturer Embraer has been

rejected. And a video taken shortly after the

crash showed the severed wing being dragged

along the ground by a tractor from the impact

site. Behind it, two men were walking and

picking up pieces of the wing that had broken

off in that dragging. So much for some pretence

of trying to investigate the disaster.

Pilot Maxim Kuzminov of the Russian 319th Independent Helicopter Regiment defected

to the Ukrainian side.

Mi-8AMTS “Red 62” in Ukrainian service with Russian markings obliterated.

22

INFO Eduard

October 2023