Poisoner of Russian spy providing intelligence to UK may be involved in Prigozhin's murder

Intelligence sources in the UK and Ukraine are discussing whether Andrey Averyanov, the head of the Russian military intelligence unit that poisoned the Skripal family [Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for British intelligence services, and his daughter - ed.] with Novichok [a group of nerve agents - ed.] in Salisbury, could have been involved in organising the murder of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner Group. Source: European Pravda, citing publication of the British portal i Details: Averyanov's name is not the only one discussed by Western intelligence agencies in connection with the alleged death of the Wagner Group terrorist leader, but he is suspected because of his involvement in the ousting of Prigozhin from Africa.

Two British intelligence sources, former and current, said that Averyanov led the operation to replace the Wagnerites in Africa with 20,000 Russian military personnel and had a "long-standing hostile relationship" with Prigozhin.

A source in Ukrainian intelligence also noted that the Ukrainian security services are investigating the version about Averyanov's involvement in the explosion of Prigozhin's plane. Andrey Averyanov heads unit 29155 of the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff - Russian military intelligence. According to The New York Times and Bellingcat, this particular unit is linked to numerous murders, including the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018.

The same unit is involved in the investigation of a bombing of an ammunition depot in Vrbetice, Czechia, in 2014, an attempted murder of a Bulgarian arms dealer in 2015, a campaign to destabilise Moldova, and a failed coup attempt in Montenegro in 2016.

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Background:

• On Wednesday evening, Russian media and the Federal Air Transport Agency reported that a plane crashed in Russia. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, was among the passengers.

  It is reported that all 10 people on board were killed, including Prigozhin's deputy Dmitry Utkin, alias Wagner.

• British intelligence believes that the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin will have a deeply destabilising effect on the private military company.

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