Wagner’s finale? Prigozhin’s death marks Russian shift in strategy.
The plane crash that killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and at least two of his top lieutenants on Wednesday was clearly no accident.
Mr. Prigozhin had many enemies, and Russian state media Thursday were full of speculation about a possible Ukrainian or Western hand in his demise. But it seems likely that the Russian private warlord who staged an open, if short-lived, coup against the Russian military establishment was living on borrowed time.
Though Mr. Prigozhin’s rebellion was quashed, and he and a core of his men banished to Belarus, they remained in the headlines. There was likely a lot of murky, unfinished business between the mercenary leader and the Kremlin.
His death most probably spells the end of the Kremlin’s reliance on freelance, purportedly shot in Africa, proclaiming that the Wagner force would be actively fighting to make Africa “more free” in the interests of Russia. The prospect of a reviving Wagner is something that would have focused minds in many quarters.
