Wagner Group Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin Reported Dead After A Plane Crash Outside Of Moscow

✪ Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian dissident Vladimir Putin labeled a “traitor,” is believed to have been killed when a private jet crashed outside Moscow Wednesday evening – less than two months after he led a mutiny against the Kremlin’s military top brass...

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rigozhin, the leader of the controversial Wagner Paramilitary Group, was on the passenger list of the Embraer aircraft that crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino, 60 miles north of Moscow, the TASS news agency said Wednesday, citing the Federal Agency for Air Transport.

“An investigation of the Embraer plane crash that happened in the Tver Region this evening was initiated. According to the passenger list, first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list,” the agency stated.

Although it is unclear if Prigozhin boarded the flight, footage of the wreckage shows the last four digits of the aircraft’s registration number are 2795 — a match for the Wagner leader’s plane, which is RA-02795. The engine color is also similar to Prigozhin’s jet.

Flight data indicates that a jet registered to Wagner that Prigozhin used previously took off from Moscow on Wednesday evening and stopped transmitting signals around 6:11 p.m. local time.

A second jet possibly linked to the Wagner Group chief landed safely in St. Petersburg at 6:19 p.m. local time, flight data indicates.

There were 10 people on board the plane when it went down less than 30 minutes into its journey from Sheremetyevo Airport outside the Russian capital to St. Petersburg, officials told TASS.

The aircraft burst into flames on impact, according to the state-run agency, which has been accused of spreading Russian propaganda during the Ukraine war Thus far, eight bodies are believed to have been recovered from the crash site.

Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin was also possibly on the doomed flight, the Wagner Group-affiliated Telegram channel Gray Zone said. “Various sources” alleged that the jet was downed by Russian “air defense systems,” the channel added.

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An unverified video of a jet matching the description of an Embraer Legacy 600 tumbling out of the sky was circulated online by the Russian outlet RIA Novosti.

The investigation into the crash is under the “personal control” of the governor of the Tver region, Igor Rudenya, according to TASS. There is also a criminal investigation underway headed by the Russian Investigative Committee, CNN said.

The case is grounded in Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which includes violations of the operations of air transport.

“All the necessary forensic examinations will be appointed, a set of investigative actions will be carried out to establish the causes of the crash,” the committee said.

Prigozhin had led his military group in a mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 24, marching toward Moscow before the effort was called off around 100 miles before he reached the capital and the troops agreed to turn around and head back to the front lines.

The crash comes just two days after Prigozhin, 62, shared his first video address since the aborted coup. The unverified footage of the mercenary in camouflage toting an assault weapon appeared on Wagner Group-affiliated Telegram channels Tuesday.

“The Wagner PMC (private military company) makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa – even more free,” the oligarch said in the video, which included a phone number for recruits.

The video is believed to have been shot somewhere in Africa, as a plane linked to Prigozhin is thought to have landed in Bamako, Mali, on Sunday.

The Wagner Group was hired by a local military junta in Mali in 2021, after UN peacekeepers and French troops were expelled from the country.

Prior to the footage leak, Prigozhin had kept a low profile since the June 24 mutiny that threatened to usurp Russia’s military heads over their handling of the Ukraine war. Wagner fighters have suffered heavy losses in the conflict, where they are leading the assault on Bakhmut.

While Prigozhin’s forces marched on Moscow, Putin denounced him as a “traitor.” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a fragile peace deal between Putin and Prigozhin, who agreed to call off the march in exchange for pardons for himself and his troops.

Prigozhin also accepted going into exile in Belarus, though he was still in Russia as of July 6, the BBC reported. ✪

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