As it turns out, staging a failed coup against one of the world’s most fearsome leaders may actually have consequences.


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For context, earlier this year, a caterer-turned-mercenary named Yevgeny Prigozhin attempted a rebellion against the government of Vladimir Putin alongside Prigozhin’s private military company Wagner Group. After this apparent coup attempt failed, Putin reached a deal with neighboring Belarus to hold onto Prigozhin, presumably to prevent him from starting another coup in Russia.


However, Prigozhin soon ended up in Africa. Listen, it’s a long story that doesn’t fully relate to what we’re talking about. What’s most important is that Prigozhin recently took a flight to Russia, where his plane promptly crashed. Crazy how that happens sometimes.



The Russian government hasn’t confirmed that he’s dead, but — c’mon, he dead. How exactly it happened, though, is up for debate. Telegram channels in Russia were reporting that locals heard explosions near the crash, indicating that it was shot down; however, the Pentagon says there’s no evidence that this was the case. Others have floated the possibility that there was a bomb onboard. There are also a scant few who say hey, maybe the plane just did that.




The sudden (alleged) death of the Wagner Group’s leader has many wondering what the future of the group will be. It’s likely that the group will continue under new leadership, probably helmed by someone who won’t try to take out Putin given half the chance. Regardless, internet users are having the time of their lives making jokes about the strange situation.




For his part, Putin described Prigozhin as a “‘talented businessman’ with a ‘complicated fate’ who ‘made serious mistakes in his life,’” per CNBC. The article doesn’t say if he winked after he said this, but we can safely assume he at least wanted to.


Long story short, if you’re getting on a plane and see a controversial mercenary on the flight, maybe it’s best you take a voucher toward a later trip.