One year ago, mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led a brief armed rebellion in Russia, challenging Vladimir Putin’s authority.
Prigozhin and his forces seized a military headquarters in the south and began a ‘march for justice’ towards Moscow, aiming to remove Defense Ministry leaders whom he accused of withholding ammunition in Ukraine.
However, the mission was halted hours later through an amnesty agreement brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Two months afterward, a plane carrying Prigozhin and his associates crashed en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, resulting in the deaths of all seven passengers and three crew members.
A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment suggested foul play, alleging an intentional explosion onboard, but Putin dismissed any claims of Kremlin involvement as categorically false.