Britain & EU to List Wagner as Terrorist Group

[Ladybbird]

Putins' Enemy and Wagner Group Warlord Prigozhin Dies in Plane Crash in Russia - MAYBE...

Wagners’ Prigozhin Killed in Plane Crash North of Moscow

BBC 23 AUG 2023




Yevgeny Prihozhin, the leader of Russias' Wagner mercenary group











BOOM......



Yevgeny Prigozhin - the director of Putins' former shadow army Wagner PMC - is feared dead after his light aircraft crashed in Russia today.


The plane was seen in a video falling out of the sky in the Bologovsky district in the Tver region. The burning wreckage was seen in a field. It was initially unknown if Wagner chief Prigozhin - known as Putin’s chef and with longstanding links to the Kremlin dictator - was on board.

A report from Rosaviatsiya - the Russian aviation agency - said Prigozhin was among the passengers. Reports said seven were on board the Embraer Legacy 600 business jet.

At least three died but four could not be located. A later report citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry said ten had been killed. A loud bang was reported by people on the ground.

Prigozhin, 62, had led a coup against Putin’s regime exactly two months ago. He had been warned that his life was in danger. A channel linked to Wagner said the plane had been shot down by air defences. There was no confirmation. Sources close to him said that while the aircraft belonged to him, he usually flew on another aircraft.

He was known to take huge care over his security.

Earlier this week a video apparently showed him in Africa vowing to make Russian great by deploying his Wagner troops on the continent. Former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak said: “My sources report that an Embraer plane belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin has now crashed in the Tver region.

"This happened 15 kilometres from Khotilovo. According to our information, there were three crew members and seven passengers. Whether Prigozhin himself was on board is unknown.”

Sobchak is known as Putins’ “goddaughter”. A local woman said parts of the plane fell off as it plunged from the sky. Prigozhin had been warned not to go into high buildings for fear of accidents after leading a coup aimed at ousting especially defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Gen Valery Gerasimov.



He is known to have used body doubles as part of his elaborate security measures..

[Ladybbird]

Wagner Chief a Dead Man Walking After Prigozhins' Mutiny Bid

Wagner Boss Prigozhin WAS on Crashed Plane, Russia Confirms

BBC 24 AUG 2023






Yevgeny Prigozhin became a household name after he launched a short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful coup against the Russian armed forces in June.


He was the head of the Wagner group - a band of mercenaries heavily involved in the Ukraine war until the mutiny.

He has a chequered past to say the least , and the man who was once President Vladimir Putin's chef had no shortage of enemies. It has therefore come as no surprise to many that he is now presumed dead. Russia's aviation authority say he was on a plane that crashed north of Moscow with no survivors.

He last appeared in a video - the picture above is a screengrab – apparently recorded in Africa this month. There is a huge amount of speculation as to what exactly happened


Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg says that if this was an act of revenge by those in power, it sends a clear message to anyone else in Russia who may have been contemplating armed resistance.



Prigozhin a Dead Man Walking

[Ladybbird]

Yevgeny Prigozhin: Wagner Chiefs' Plane Brought Down by Bomb Smuggled in Wine Crate

Wagner mercenaries are threatening to march on Moscow after reports claim Prigozhin, who led a coup against Vladimir Putin in June, is among the dead in a plane crash

BBC 24 AUG 2023








The doomed plane of the Wagner boss was brought down by bombs smuggled in a wine crate, it's claimed.

Witnesses heard a loud bang before they saw the jet 'fall from the sky' in a burning fireball. Images of the wreckage show the burning plane in a field in the Tver region as plumes of black smoke rise above the scene, visible from miles away.


Wagner mercenaries are threatening to march on Moscow after reports claim Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a coup against Russian president Vladimir Putin in June, is among the dead in a plane crash. Telegram channels linked to the warlord announced his death on Friday night shortly after news of the crash.

Russian officials also say Prigozhin was on the plane which crashed in a field just outside of the capital. Ten on board have died, with the Federal Air Transport Agency publishing a list of names of those believed to have perished.

Russian officials also say Prigozhin was on the plane which crashed in a field just outside of Moscow

The number 795 can be made out on parts of the scrap, which matches the number of the plane linked to Prigozhin. As well as Prigozhin, his deputy Dmitry Utkin is also named. However, rumours are now swirling that this is Prigozhin's bid to fake his own death after he was exiled to Belarus after backing down on his march to Moscow just two months prior.

Keir Giles, from the London-based think tank Chatham House, has warned: "It's been announced that a passenger by the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board - but it is also known that multiple individuals have changed their name to Yevgeny Prigozhin, as part of his efforts to obfuscate his travels. Let’s not be surprised if he pops up shortly in a new video from Africa."

Although the cause of the crash is unclear, Russian social media channels is awash with speculation that a case of fine wine onboard may in fact have been a bomb in disguise. Putin is yet to make a public statement about the crash and last night attended a WW2 concert and handed out military honours in Kursk.

He is said to have put his former war chief on the 'kill list' following the failed coup. But rumours of Prigozhin faking his own death continue to swirl after a second aircraft, with links to Wagner, was seen on flight radar zigzagging over the same Tzer region, 60 miles north of the capital.

The 62-year-old has upped his security and kept a low profile in a careful move since his march on Moscow failed. Sources close to him say that while the aircraft that crashed did belong to him, he usually flew on another plane.

This would not be the first time he had succeeded in disappearing: he was officially declared dead in Africa in 2019, before re-emerging before Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. A Wagner address last night, reported by the Sun, stated: "We directly say that we suspect the Kremline officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him!

Wagner private army mercenaries released a video following the crash threatening to march on Moscow

"If the information about Prigozhin's death is confirmed, we will organise a second March of Justice on Moscow!"

Meanwhile armed men claiming to be from the unit warned Putin in a video shared online: "There's a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do. We can tell you one thing. We are getting started, get ready for us."


A Telegram channel thought to be linked to Prigozhin said their leader had died, saying he had been 'killed as a result of actions by traitors of Russia


A post described him as a 'hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland'.

As well as Prigozhin and Utkin, other passengers said to have died include Valeriy Chekalov, who has previously been sanctioned by the US due to his links to the Wagner group. "A private jet flying from Moscow to St Petersburg crashed," Russian State TV Rossiya24 said. "Ten people were killed. Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the passengers."

[Ladybbird]

Wagner to be Declared a Terrorist Organisation by Britain

French Parliament Calls on EU to List Wagner as Terrorist Group

BBC 6 SEP 2023






Wagner, the Russian mercenary group, is set to be proscribed as a terrorist group by the UK government - meaning it will be illegal to be a member or support the organisation.

A draft order to be laid in Parliament will allow its assets to be categorised as terrorist property and seized.


The home secretary said Wagner was "violent and destructive... a military tool of Vladimir Putins' Russia".

She said its work in Ukraine and Africa was a "threat to global security".

Suella Braverman added: "Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals."

"They are terrorists, plain and simple - and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law."

Wagner had played a key role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as operating in Syria and countries in Africa including Libya and Mali.

Its fighters have been accused of a number crimes including killing and torturing Ukrainian citizens.


In 2020, the US said Wagner soldiers had planted landmines around the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

And in July, the UK said the group had carried out "executions and torture in Mali and the Central African Republic".

The group's future was thrown into uncertainty earlier this year when its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against Russia's military leaders.

Prigozhin, who founded the group in 2014, died in a suspicious plane crash along with other Wagner figures on 23 August and was buried in St Petersburg.

The group's name will now be added alongside that of other proscribed organisations in the UK such as Hamas and Boko Haram.

The Terrorism Act 2000 gives the home secretary the power to proscribe an organisation if they believe it is concerned in terrorism.


Before the act, it was only possible to proscribe organisations connected to terrorism in Northern Ireland.

The proscription order will make it a criminal offence to support the group - including by arranging a meetings aimed at furthering the organisation's activities, expressing support for its aims or displaying its flag or logo.

Committing a proscription offence could lead to 14 years in prison or a fine of up to £5,000.

The government had come under pressure from MPs for some months to proscribe the group.

Earlier this year, Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy urged the government to proscribe Wagner saying it was "responsible for the appalling atrocities in Ukraine and across the world".

Welcoming the draft order on Tuesday, Mr Lammy said on social media: "This is long overdue, but it's welcome the government has finally acted. Now the government should press for a Special Tribunal to prosecute Putin for his crime of aggression."

The Foreign Office had imposed sanctions on the group, including freezing the assets of Prigozhin and several top commanders.

However, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said in July: "Sanctions are not enough - the UK needs to proscribe the Wagner group for what it is: a terrorist organisation."

Her committee also produced a report which said the government had been "remarkably complacent" and criticised its "dismal lack of understanding of Wagner's hold beyond Europe, in particular their grip on African states".

The Wagner Group has been seriously weakened by its failed mutiny in June against Russias' generals, as well as the recent death in the plane crash of its top leadership, BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner writes.

But proscribing it in law will make it harder for members to move money around, our correspondent adds. It will also provide a legal basis for Ukrainians and others to sue Wagner for potentially billions of pounds in compensation through the British courts.