Well guess this is the end of wagner, don't get why that Prigozjin guy stayed in Russia after all this.
One suggestion was that this was one of those "You can die, or we can kill your family. Your choice" and they went with suicide-by-missile.
Six theories
1. His shitty aeroplane spontaneously crashed and died due to lack of spare parts and shitty maintenance quality.
2.
Russian air defences saw a civilian airliner and decided to blow it up3. Prigozhin wasn't on that plane and faked his death as part of an agreement with Putin to allow Putin to "deal with him" whilst Prigozhin is sipping mojitos in the bahamas and making albums with Tupac in Serbia.
4. Prigozhin faked his own death in order to lower Putin's guard and initiate his metal gear storyline
5. Prigozhin is as cunning and intelligent as you'd expect for a cocktail sausage maker cum warlord, so when ricin-stabbing polonium-tea giving novichok window friending Putin told him "nah it's cool brah half measures never backfire" he took Putin's word at it, because he and Putin are buddies. Honestly not that impossible. Especially since removing Sergei Surovikin, who was a suspected Prigozhin sympathiser and in charge of Russian air defences... One day before Russian air defences are suspected of shooting down Prigozhin, is a smoking gun.
6. Putin was genuinely sincere about his truce with Prigozhin, but one of the many warlords and defence ministers Prigozhin pissed off took it upon themselves to eliminate Prigozhin when the opportunity presented it, which puts Putin in a bind. Also possible, given that this could be someone taking advantage of Putin dismissing Surovikin, and the lack of a pre-prepared media spin or coherent narrative immediately after Prigozhin's death is pretty suspicious if Putin had truly planned this out over two months. It is a significant possibility this even surprised Putin, and he just has to own up to it because no one would believe him if he said it wasn't him anyways.