(NewsNation) — Russian Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed near Moscow on Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, Russia’s civil aviation agency confirmed.
Prigozhin led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, causing some to raise suspicions about the crash.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously denounced the rebellion as “treason” and a “stab in the back” and pledged he would avenge it, though charges against Prigozhin were soon dropped and he was allowed to retreat to Belarus.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis told NewsNation’s Nichole Berlie the crash will cause a lot of trouble for Russia as it continues its war against Ukraine, which started after an invasion last year.
A lot of people were “very loyal followers” of Prigozhin, even seeing him as a war hero, Davis said.
“If it turns out that Russia actually took him down, whether it was Putin or someone else, that’s going to cause a lot of dissension within Russia at a time when it’s not going to be good for them, but good for Ukraine,” Davis said. “If he was on that aircraft and he is dead, there’s going to be a lot of Russians angry at their government.”
This could be good for Ukraine as the war continues, Davis added.
“Anything that divides the Russians is good for them,” Davis said. “But it’s going to be something that Putin is going to have a lot of headaches with.”