'NO SURPRISE...WARLORD ENEMY OF PUTIN 'DIES IN CRASH'

Is this Putin's revenge for warlord who defied him?

- Mark Reynolds

THE warlord who challenged Vladimir Putin appears to have paid the ultimate price after reports he was killed in a plane crash yesterday.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, was presumed dead after an aircraft he was believed to be travelling in fell from the sky, crashed and burst into flames.

Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone alleged the private jet, which belonged to the 62-year-old warlord, was shot down by Russian air defences.

It said last night: "The head of the Wagner Group, a hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia." Putin's aviation authorities, who have launched an investigation, said Prigozhin and his Wagner cofounder Dmitry Utkin were on board the crashed craft and that there were no survivors.

It comes months after Prigozhin led a failed coup against the Russian president when he became frustrated with the Kremlin leadership over the Ukraine war.