The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
  • Neato@kbin.social
    42·
    11 months ago

    If the DOD knows something, like it was missiles, because of classified technology, like spy satellites, they will deny the knowledge unless there’s an unclassified source. They just aren’t a reliable source.

    • blaine@kbin.social
      191·
      11 months ago

      I mean, the FSB could have easily had an asset inside the refueling operation at the Moscow airport. Place a small time-delayed explosive charge in the fuel intake of the left wing just before take-off, and you’d end up with pretty much exactly the crash profile we’ve seen.

      It’s cheaper and more reliable than a missile, leaves less physical evidence behind, and maintains a higher level of plausible deniability. Especially if your fallback plan is to blame it on the Ukrainians if the plot gets discovered.

      Source: I watched all 7 seasons of Homeland.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      14·
      11 months ago

      There was a video circulating right after Prigozhin’s plane went down that turned out to be an old video of a different plane being shot down some time previously, perhaps you saw that.

    • maporita@unilem.org
      10·
      11 months ago

      I think a bomb is more likely for a couple of reasons. Firstly the breakup occurred around the tail section … that doesn’t square with a guided missile which normally targets the nose or engines. Second a bomb is much easier to conceal than a missile. I think the smoke in the video was from the explosion itself.

      • 601error@lemmy.caEnglish
        6·
        11 months ago

        The engines are at the back of this aircraft. Also in Russia, Russian air defence sites do not need to be concealed from Russian business jets. That said, I find either cause equally plausible.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    10·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

    Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash, and cited two U.S. officials saying a surface-to-air missile likely hit it.

    Russian air authorities have said Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, and eight other people were on the private plane that crashed with no survivors northwest of Moscow on Wednesday.

    The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported a different theory, citing unnamed U.S. officials: that a bomb aboard the aircraft or some other sabotage caused the crash.

    The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny in which they took control of a southern city, Rostov, and advanced towards Moscow.

    Prigozhin, 62, head of the Wagner mercenary group, frequently criticized the Russian army top brass over what he said was its incompetent prosecution of the war in Ukraine.

    The original article contains 398 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!