List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

Wagner chief Prigozhin's "right hand man" Dmitry Utkin, financier Valeriy Chekalov and fighters.

Turkey’s central bank has raised its key interest rate by an aggressive 7.5 percentage points, in a new sign of a return to more traditional economic policies

A former MI6 spy chief has said “all indications” suggest Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was “taken out” by Vladimir Putin, two months after staging a mutiny that dented the Russian president’s authority. Russia's civil aviation agency said that Mr Prigozhin, leader of the private mercenary group, and six top lieutenants were among 10 killed when a jet crashed soon after taking off from Moscow on Wednesday. Mr Prigozhin’s supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging channels that the plane was deliberately downed. Numerous opponents and critics of Mr Putin have been killed or gravely sickened in apparent assassination attempts. The Wagner group chief had mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June and marched on Moscow with his mercenary fighters, with Mr Putin denouncing the rebellion as “treason” and vowing to punish those behind it. Sir John Sawers, head of the MI6 between 2009 and 2014, said on Thursday that all signs suggest the Russian president had “taken him out”, making it clear to Russians he was not going to “brook any challenge”. Former intelligence officer Christopher Steele also claimed it was an “inside job” and suggested a bomb inside a “wine crate” could have caused the explosion. Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Sir John said: “All the indications point to the fact Putin has taken him out. He has reasserted his control. “He’s making clear to everyone inside and outside of Russia that he’s not going to brook any challenge. If there’s a slim chance that he’s not dead and he wasn’t on that plane, he will be soon.” The plane carrying three pilots and seven passengers was travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg, according to officials cited by Russia’s state news agency Tass. Footage shows the flaming wreckage after a private jet came down. Sir John explained the MI6 “wouldn’t have any extra information’ on Prigozhin’s death yet, but said it was likely there would have been “some device” on board that took the jet down. He said: “If there had been some air defence missile that took him out then there would be traces of that which would be detectable through satellite means. But I would have thought there would have been some device on board that brought the plane down suddenly and killed all those on board. “Of course, those on board were not only Prigozhin but those around him like his military commander Dmitry Utkin, some other long-standing aides, so it’s a way of taking out the entire Wagner leadership all in one go.” Meanwhile, Mr Steele, who was with the Secret Intelligence Service and ran the MI6 Russia desk, claimed a bomb inside a “wine crate” could have caused the explosion. He added that the crash looked like part of a “pattern of state-backed activity” by FSB or GRU forces. He told Sky News: “I think it is unlikely that Wagner commanders were actually behind this ultimately. I would suspect very much that it was an FSB or GRU operation. “Certainly it’s an inside job, the suggestion is that it’s a bomb in a wine crate. That’s a kind of ironic end for Putin’s former caterer.” He added: “[The crash] followed the day after General (Sergei) Surovikin, who you will remember was the commander first of all in Syria and later in Ukraine, was sacked from his job which was to be in charge of the security over the Russian homeland. “He was seen as somebody that was one of the generals who was supporting Prigozhin and was an ally of his. For him to have been removed a day before does rather suggest a pattern of state-backed activity here.” So far, the Kremlin has not commented on the crash. Mr Putin did not mention the incident during a speech in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during the Second World War. Read More Ukraine war - live: Wagner chief Prigozhin and co-founder ‘killed’ in Russia plane crash as Putin at concert Minister warns against jumping to conclusions over Wagner chief’s reported death Plane crash believed to have killed Russian mercenary chief seen as Kremlin's revenge The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

Asked in the first primary debate about climate change, only one candidate said it was real.

Officials say a top court in Pakistan’s capital is expected to issue a crucial ruling on an appeal from the country’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan against his recent conviction and three-year sentence in a graft case

Flight data shows the path taken by the plane reported to have been carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin before it crashed, killing all those on board. Russia’s civil aviation authority said that Mr Prigozhin, who led a failed coup against the Kremlin two months ago, was one of 10 people on board when the aircraft came down near the village of Kuzhenkino, northwest of the capital, Moscow on Wednesday. Flight data shows the plane was first tracked northwest of Moscow at an altitude of 12,275ft. It continued travelling northwest and was last tracked northwest of the Tver region at 28,000. The plane, an Embraer Legacy 600, registration number 02795, then crashed some time later near the village of Kuzhenkino, northwest of Moscow, during a flight from the capital to St Petersburg. There was no official comment from the Kremlin or the Russian defence ministry on the fate of Mr Prigozhin, a self-declared enemy of the army’s leadership over what he argued was its incompetent prosecution of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, Grey Zone, pronounced him dead and hailed him as a hero and a patriot. It said he died at the hands of unidentified people it called "traitors to Russia." Body bags were seen being carried away from the crash site early on Thursday morning and Russian state media said all those onboard had been recovered. Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators had erected a tent. Mourners left flowers and lit candles near Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg early on Thursday. Amid fevered speculation and an absence of verifiable facts, some of Mr Prigozhin’s supporters pointed the finger of blame at the Russian state, others at Ukraine which was due to mark its Independence Day on Thursday. Whoever or whatever was behind the crash, his death would rid Putin of someone who had mounted the most serious challenge to the Russian leader’s authority since he came to power in 1999. Read More Plane crash believed to have killed Russian mercenary chief seen as Kremlin's revenge What was Vladimir Putin doing as Wagner chief rival ‘killed’ in plane crash? Prigozhin has made plenty of enemies – including Putin. This is the result The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

By Jack Queen ATLANTA Donald Trump will be in a Georgia jail for the blink of an eye

By Jack Queen ATLANTA Donald Trump is set to surrender at an Atlanta jail on Thursday, a week

A key portion of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy that grants parole to thousands of people from Central America and the Caribbean is set to be debated in a Texas federal courtroom

By Jack Queen ATLANTA Donald Trump is due to report to an Atlanta jail on Thursday to face

By Tim Reid (Reuters) -Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire former biotech executive, has a chance to build on the attention he

Former President Donald Trump will surrender on Thursday to be booked on more than a dozen charges stemming from his efforts to reverse Georgia's 2020 election results, the fourth time this year the former president has faced criminal charges.