From Vlad, With Love? Rumors Swirl That Explosive Wine Crate Took Down Prigozhin's Plane [See It]

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin stash an explosive wine crate on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane? That’s one of the latest rumors to gain traction in the media.

From The New York Post:

The Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, with Prigozhin and other senior Wagner Group members listed among the 10 passengers, showed “no indication that there was anything wrong” earlier in the flight Wednesday, according to Ian Petchenik of the flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

It then made a “sudden downward vertical” at 5:19 p.m. local time — and within about 30 seconds, plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.

“Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Petchenik said. “They may have been wrestling [with the aircraft] after whatever happened.

Video showed the plane plummeting with its nose pointing almost straight downward and a plume of smoke or vapor trailing behind it.

…

One of the theories spreading on Russian social media sites is that a bomb had been planted onboard Prigozhin’s plane, possibly concealed inside a crate of wine, reported the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which is linked to Russian security services.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said he wouldn’t be surprised if Putin was involved in Prigozhin’s death, seeing as the Russian warlord tried —and failed —to stage a coup against Putin earlier this year.

Watch the video below:

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s jet appeared fine 30 seconds before crash amid rumors bomb was hidden in a wine crate. https://t.co/mgdFoqQKbb pic.twitter.com/1L1xiq4qtV

— New York Post (@nypost) August 24, 2023