Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s jet is rumoured to have been taken down by a bomb hidden in a wine crate, sources say.
Theories are running rife around the fiery crash that today killed Putin’s enemy, which unfolded exactly two months after Wagner’s failed coup.
Officials have confirmed the 62-year-old was on the plane that mysteriously plummeted into the Russian ground this afternoon, saying he was among 10 on board who died, The Sun reports.
Clips showed the aircraft spiralling towards the ground from 28,000ft, with smoke pouring from the fuselage.
Just seconds later a black mushroom cloud of smoke poured into the sky, and flames could be seen leaping from the mangled wreck.
As the white Embraer Legacy 600 business jet seemed to just drop from the sky, it was suggested it had been taken out by a ground-to-air missile.
However, sources say there could have been a bomb on board Prigozhin’s jet – which inevitably took it down.
One source said a consignment of “expensive wine” was loaded on-board the aircraft minutes before takeoff.
And one theory is that explosives were concealed in the wine packaging.
Earlier, sniffer dogs were used to check the aircraft – which was reduced to mere charred remains.
Locals on the ground claimed they’d heard “two large explosions” before watching the plane fall from the sky.
The jet was said to have flown from Africa, to Moscow, before it crashed.
It went up in flames just 31 miles from Putin’s lavish palace at Valdai, northern Russia.
Wagner officials quickly threatened another coup after rumours of Prigozhin’s death started swirling.
A translation read: “There are rumours about the death of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“We directly say that we suspect the Kremlin officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him.
“If the information about Prigozhin’s death is confirmed, we will organise a second “March of Justice” on Moscow! He’d better be alive, it’s in your own interests …”
Prigozhin had been thought to be living on borrowed time for weeks and was reported to have stayed in a hotel with no windows in neighbouring Belarus.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
