A new report says Nikolai Patrushev, Russia’s 72-year-old former security chief, orchestrated the assassination of the Wagner leader.

The secretary of the Russian Security Council is the mastermind behind the murder of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane explosion last summer, an investigation by the Wall Street Journal says. A close ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev had earlier served as the director of the Federal Security Council and is considered the gray cardinal of Kremlin politics. 

Prigozhin, a 62-year-old businessman (pictured below) who had helped Putin, 71, cement his power and wage the war in Ukraine before his business jet crashed on its way from Moscow to St. Petersburg on 23 August 2023, signed up for the death row for his failed armed mutiny on 23 June. He had ordered a 25,000-strong force and heavy weaponry to march to Moscow and make Putin’s top military commanders accountable for the Russian disaster at the Ukrainian frontlines. 

On several occasions, Prigozhin openly criticized the decision to invade Ukraine. 

Patrushev, who prefers to stay in the shadow of public life, allegedly issued orders to his assistants for Prigozhin’s assassination from his central Moscow office, the WSJ cited a former Russian intelligence officer with knowledge on the matter.

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The investigation suggests that a small explosive device was discreetly placed beneath the wing of Prigozhin's Embraer Legacy 600 before takeoff from the Sheremetyevo airport, causing a mid-air explosion that claimed his life and those of nine others on board.

Wagner co-founder Dmitry Utkin and several Wagner fighters got killed in the crash too, along with stewardess Kristina Raspopova and pilot Rustam Karimov, who had nothing to do with the war or politics.

The bomb blasted half an hour later at the altitude of 8,500 meters. The debris fell near the village of Kuzhenkino. 

The report contradicts Putin's earlier claim that Prigozhin and associates were high on cocaine, detonating hand grenades in the business jet. In fact, the dictator saw the assassination plans and gave his blessing, the same source stated.

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Prigozhin, who led the failed coup against Putin's high command - Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, was considered a threat and "had to be removed" according to the source in the Kremlin .

Patrushev is known for wielding significant influence and is often regarded as Putin's most trusted ally. A hardliner in Russian politics, he had reportedly cautioned Putin about Prigozhin's growing power and recklessness. 

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group, a force rivaling with the Russian armed forces, could no longer be controlled from the Kremlin, thus becoming a liability to Putin's regime and therefore a target that need to be eliminated, the source explained his arguments.

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Patrushev's official role as secretary of the Russian Security Council, presided over by Putin, has organized the assassination for two reasons. One is to please his boss and reinforce his political worthiness. Second is the positioning his son, Dmitry Patrushev, currently the agriculture minister (pictured below), as Putin's possible successor.

During the Soviet era, Nikolai Patrushev worked for the KGB; he holds the rank of army general. 

The Russian police investigation regarding the Prigozhin plane crash remains shrouded in secrecy. The Kremlin continues to deny involvement in Prigozhin's death. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, dismissed the WSJ report as “pulp fiction,” stating that such materials are unlikely to warrant an official response.

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