Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the apparent death of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Russia, voter suppression efforts in Zimbabwe’s general election, and India’s space exploration success.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group who launched a mutiny against the Kremlin two months ago, is believed to have died along with nine other people in a plane crash in Russia on Wednesday.

All 10 people aboard the Embraer flight, which was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg and crashed in the Tver region, were killed, according to Russia’s emergency ministry. Prigozhin was listed as one of its passengers. A Russia-imposed official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province said he spoke with Wagner forces who confirmed the death of Prigozhin as well as that of another passenger, Lt. Col. Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s second in command and one of Wagner Group’s founders.

The Wagner-linked Telegram channel Gray Zone alleged that the plane, which was owned by Prigozhin, was shot down by Russian defense forces via surface-to-air missiles, though that has not been confirmed. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not issued a statement regarding the allegations; at the time of the crash, Putin was attending a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, where the Soviet Red Army defeated Nazi forces in 1943.

However, the timing of the crash—two months to the day after Prigozhin’s failed rebellion—as well as Putin’s well-known penchant for assassinating his political foes are certainly suggestive.

“If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate,” said U.S. President Joe Biden regarding Prigozhin last month. “I would keep an eye on my menu.”

Prigozhin was last seen in an undated video, released on Monday, that appeared to be filmed in Africa. Wagner Group maintains a strong foothold on the continent, backing numerous coups across the Sahel and applauding the recent ousting of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. If Prigozhin is out of the picture, then it’s unclear what Wagner’s future may be—both in Russia and beyond.

Prigozhin had once been a close advisor to Putin and was famously known as “Putin’s chef.” But Wagner’s attempted coup changed all that, signaling the first major threat to Putin’s reign in years—especially coming at a time when Moscow was struggling to push back against Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

If the Russian leader was indeed behind the plane crash, then, as a White House National Security Council spokesperson said in a Wednesday statement, “no one should be surprised.” Or, as CIA Director William Burns put it last month: “Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold.”

• Almost Nothing Is Worth a War Between the U.S. and China by Howard W. French
• Russia’s Illegal Bridges Have Ukrainian Crosshairs on Them by Oz Katerji
• Next Door to Ukraine, Moscow’s Grip is Tightening by Jeffrey Mankoff

Official dismissal. In more news out of Moscow, Russian state media confirmed on Wednesday that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the head of Moscow’s air force, was fired, though the exact date of his termination remains unclear. For months, Surovikin (known as General Armageddon) oversaw Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, but following the Wagner Group’s attempted coup, Surovikin disappeared from the public eye. Regional experts believe Surovikin’s removal correlated with Wagner’s dissent, making him the most senior official to lose his job over the mutiny. However, a Russian defense official said Surovikin was simply transferred to a new post and is currently on a short vacation.

One of Surovikin’s last public appearances occurred on June 24, when he appealed to Wagner troops via video to return to their base. Surovikin has a history of close ties with Prigozhin. In the weeks that followed the insurrection, locals suggested that Surovikin was being detained by the Kremlin for questioning despite one Russian retired general saying he was merely “resting.”

Voter suppression fears. Zimbabwe’s general election—only its second since the 2017 overthrow of longtime dictator Robert Mugabe—got off to a rocky start on Wednesday, sparking fears of voting irregularities before the first ballots were even cast. Only 18 out of 77 polling stations in the capital, Harare, opened on time, with some voting sites starting four hours late because ballots hadn’t been delivered.

Although 11 candidates are in the running to be Zimbabwe’s next president, the two main contenders are 80-year-old incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and 45-year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa. According to an Afrobarometer poll conducted in April and May, Mnangagwa is predicted to lead with 37 percent of the vote compared to Chamisa’s 28 percent.

However, public support for Mnangagwa has fallen in recent months, especially as the southern African nation continues to battle a stagnant economy, hyperinflation of more than 100 percent, government corruption, and high migration. Around 6.6 million Zimbabweans are registered to vote, with results to be announced within five days. If a simple majority is not reached, then Zimbabweans will have to return to the polls for a runoff on Oct. 2.

One small step for India. Wednesday marked a historic moment for India’s space program after it successfully landed a rover on the moon. Chandrayaan-3 is New Delhi’s third lunar exploration mission and first moon landing, making India the fourth country to visit Earth’s nearest neighbor. Having now touched down on the lunar south pole, Chandrayaan-3 will spend two weeks conducting experiments, including testing the mineral makeup of the moon’s surface.

India’s success comes in the face of another country’s lunar failure. On Saturday, Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft lost communication abilities and crash-landed soon after. The mission was a massive failure for Roscosmos, Moscow’s space program. Had it not crashed, Luna 25 would have been Russia’s first successful moon mission since 1976.

Pakistan’s miracle. Six children and two adults are back on safe ground after a cable car in northern Pakistan on Tuesday became stuck around 1,000 feet above a steep gorge. Rescue efforts took roughly 15 hours, as officials were forced to construct a makeshift chairlift and approach the car from the one cable that remained intact. “I had heard stories about miracles, but I saw a miraculous rescue happening with my own eyes,” said Osama Sharif, one of the children trapped in the air. Cable cars are widely used throughout Pakistan to travel across mountainous regions, but they are often poorly maintained.

China is getting in on the fast-food action. Last Saturday, Shanghai welcomed its first Popeyes after all of the chain restaurant’s China locations closed in April. The reopening is part of a wider plan to establish at least 1,700 locations across the mainland within the next 10 years. Locals celebrated the Louisiana-style chicken chain with jazz music, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and lots of fried chicken.