Putin's order to shoot down Prigozhin's plane is public attempt to reassert dominance - ISW

Russian President Vladimir Putin's order for the Russian Ministry of Defense to shoot down a plane of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is likely a public attempt to exact vengeance for the humiliation that the Wagner Group’s armed rebellion on June 24 caused Putin and the Russian MoD.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this in its latest report, according to Ukrinform.

“Putin's almost certain order for the Russian MoD to shoot down Prigozhin’s plane is likely a public attempt to reassert his dominance and exact vengeance for the humiliation that the Wagner Group’s armed rebellion on June 24 caused Putin and the Russian MoD,” the ISW says.

It is noted that Putin notably attended a publicly televised concert in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk around the time that Russian air defenses downed Prigozhin’s plane.

“Putin’s attendance at the televised concert echoed the memory of Soviet state television showing Swan Lake on television in August 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed,” experts added.

Russian sources noted that it has been exactly two months since the beginning of Wagner’s armed rebellion during which Wagner forces shot down several Russian helicopters and killed at least 13 Russian servicemen

“The decision to have Russian air defenses be the method for Prigozhin’s assassination allowed the Russian MoD to directly avenge what was one the deadliest days for Russian aviation since the start of the full-scale invasion. Putin had suffered significant humiliation for failing to stop Wagner’s rebellion, relying on Lukashenko to stop Prigozhin’s march, and failing to punish Wagner servicemen who were responsible for shooting down Russian aircraft on June 24,” the ISW said.

As reported by Ukrinform, Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a plane that crashed on Wednesday evening in Russia’s Tver region.

Rescuers pulled out the bodies of seven people from under the wreckage.