I don’t think it was Putin—he would have dispatched him a lot sooner—and in a more dramatic way. Its not safe to betray Mother Russia when Putin’s in charge. This has been the case since the time of Ivan the Terrible. My bet it was The French or English that did it. Wasn’t the fellow going to Africa to help Niger? Who just listed Wagner as a terrorist organization? No, I think CIA or even Ukraine did the deed (or helped). They did it here to blame Putin. What would have happened it he fell out of the sky over Africa? Or Syria? The eye would be cast on the CIA or Israelis.
It will be interesting to watch all the finger pointing and from which directions.