The crash of a plane that carried Yevgeny Prigozhin and his close Wagner Group associates brings to mind the 2010 crash of the Polish presidential plane in Smolensk, Russia, under similar circumstances.
Prigozhin was a significant political actor, advancing Russian interests internationally and especially in Ukraine, Africa, and the Middle East. Only two months ago, he engaged in a mutiny, protesting the incompetence and corruption of the Russian military. Thus, the death of the leadership of this political powerhouse amounts to the decapitation of an independent factor in Russian politics.