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Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP/AP Photo
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The Russian people are skeptical over the circumstances of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, according to Western-based survey groups that are probing Russian public opinion and gauging the strength of the Kremlin to shape the public narrative.
Prigozhin’s violent death in a plane crash was hardly a surprise given his short-lived armed rebellion against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Critics and enemies of Putin in Russia have a tendency to end up dead or in prison.
Yet many of the circumstances of Prigozhin’s death in the Aug. 23 crash are a mystery, and Russians themselves appear uncertain over what happened.
President Biden has suggested Prigozhin’s death has Putin’s fingerprints on it, and U.S. officials have said they suspect a planned explosion on Prigozhin’s plane caused the aircraft to fall from the sky on a clear, sunny day, killing all 10 people on board.