Was Yevgeny Prigozhin just murdered?

If so, by whom?

NY Times reports:

• Russian media are reporting that the plane that crashed on Wednesday north of Moscow was an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet with the tail number RA-02795. Past news reports have linked the plane to Mr. Prigozhin and Wagner.

• Readovka, an account on the Telegram app that is known to be close to the Russian authorities, said that reports of Mr. Prigozhin’s death were “premature,” and that “Yevgeny Prigozhin may have been on a different airplane.”

There have been persistent rumors that US intelligence paid Prigozhin $1-4 Billion to mount an insurrection against Putin with his semi-mercenary army. And that Prigozhin pretended to do so, then openly flipped.

If true, the likeliest explanation for this crash would be CIA payback. At the same time, Prigozhin may not have traveled under his own name.

Is it just me, or has the CIA forgotten its old mantra of plausible deniability? The agency’s brazenness seems to be matched only by its stupidity and its evil intent.