Yevgeny Prigozhin, longtime leader of the private Russian mercenary Wagner Group, has reportedly died in a plane crash two months after his group launched a short-lived armed mutiny against Vladimir Putin. Several other key figures with the Wagner Group were also reportedly killed in the crash. The crash was “not unexpected,” says Kimberly Marten, Barnard College professor of political science, who has been researching and writing about the Wagner Group for years. “We know that Putin takes revenge on people who are disloyal,” says Marten, who expects the Wagner Group’s operations in several African countries to continue, but says political infighting in Russia has weakened the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.