Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is behind the death of Wagner PMC curator Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Wall Street Journal writes about this with reference to representatives of Western special services and a former Russian intelligence officer.
The American newspaper calls him "Putin's right-hand man" for decades.
According to the WSJ, the explosive device was placed under the wing of an airplane on which Prigozhin was traveling home to St. Petersburg. Earlier, Putin suggested that a hand grenade had exploded on board.
"Prigozhin had to be removed," said an anonymous Kremlin official.
The assassination of Prigozhin was prepared for two months and was personally approved by Patrushev, the WSJ writes, citing sources in Western intelligence agencies. Patrushev has long warned Putin that relying on Wagner in Ukraine gives Prigozhin too much political and military influence, which threatens the Kremlin.
Patrushev, according to the publication, stopped Prigozhin's mutiny in late June. And he saw it as an opportunity to get rid of Prigozhin forever.
The publication writes that it is Patrushev who controls the levers of the huge bureaucratic machine that keeps Putin in power. He is also behind many of the "darkest episodes of Putin's presidency," many of which have resulted in death for Kremlin opponents.
Patrushev is also close to China. One White House official has suggested that if Prigozhin's rebellion had succeeded, Beijing would have tried to put Patrushev in Putin's place. The publication describes him as a fan of various conspiracy theories who is convinced that the United States is trying to seize Russia's resources.
