Recently, the Wagner crash has attracted global attention, especially as concerns about the cause of Prigozhen's death have become the focus of public attention. According to global media reports such as the global network, Russia has launched a preliminary investigation to confirm Prigozhin's body, but is still waiting for the results of DNA tests. In addition, the list of the crash has also been made public, and 7 high-ranking Wagner members, including Prigozhin, are on the list. Rumor has it that Prigozhin's cell phone has been found next to a body at the scene, so it is likely that he did not survive.
There are many opinions and complicated situations about the reasons for this incident. Interestingly, although the core members of Wagner, including Prigozhin and his right-hand man Utkin, were on board, there was no other important member of Wagner, Andrei Troshev, known as "gray-haired". This situation is cause for concern, since Troshev was supposed to be present with other high-level officials. However, it is unusual that he is not on the list.
It is worth noting that Troshev was also one of the actual leaders of the mercenaries of Wagner, and he was trusted by Putin. Prigozhin, known as "Putin's cook", founded the Wagner Mercenaries Company after working with Wagner's Utkin. Since 2014, however, Troshev has led Wagner's operations. Compared with Utkin and others, Troshev is also a tenacious military figure, having participated in military operations in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Syria, and achieved outstanding combat achievements. In addition, he served in the Russian Response Force, which has integrated response capabilities.
Because of Troshev's "rich resume", Western countries imposed extensive sanctions on him, even listing him as the founder and CEO of Wagner. This shows that Western countries also consider Troshev to be important in Wagner. More importantly, after the "Wagner company accident" in June this year, Putin met with Prigozhin and other high-level Wagner officials, when Putin put forward the "employment proposal" and said that the Wagner company could still be led by the original members, especially the "white-haired" Troshev. This shows Putin's extremely high trust in Troshev. At that time, most members of the Wagner company accepted this proposal, only Prigozhin expressed dissatisfaction and refused to accept it.
From these circumstances, it can be seen that after the "Wagner company accident", Putin gave Prigozhin several opportunities. First of all, at the moment of crisis, Putin did not immediately send troops, but first contacted Belarusian President Lukashenko and others, and finally resolved the crisis under the mediation of Lukashenko. Secondly, Putin's meeting with Prigozhin and other high-ranking officials may have offered to let him retire with dignity and the "white-haired" Troshev take over the Wagner company, but Prigozhin refused.
At the moment, Troshev mysteriously disappeared as a "Putin's man" and did not appear on the Wagner crash list. This gave Putin a perfect opportunity to return to Moscow overnight and set about organizing a plane to Belarus to pick up members of Wagner who were still stranded there. If all goes well, Troshev will be expected to take over Prigozhin's post, continue to lead the Wagner mercenaries, and be loyal to Putin.