Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the passengers on the plane that crashed in the Tver region, Rosavietsia (Russia’s aviation agency) said. TASS news agency reported. RIA Novosti and Interfax also issued similar reports.
“There were 10 people on board the plane, including 3 crew members. According to preliminary information, all the people on board have died,” Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said some time ago.
Around 5:00 pm international time, the ministry announced that “a private Embraer Legacy aircraft en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed near the village of Kuzenkino in the Tower region.” He said they are conducting a search operation.
Video footage posted on Telegram channels linked to Wagner, which AFP could not independently verify, showed the wreckage of the plane burning in the field.
According to news agency ANI, the Moscow Times, citing Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, reported that a plane carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow on Wednesday. According to the preliminary information of the Ministry, all 10 people on board the plane have died.
According to the Russian government’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia, a man named Prigozhin was on board the plane, NNI reported. Prigozhin’s condition and whereabouts are still unknown. According to the Moscow Times, Governor Igor Rudenya’s press department has said that, responding to the plane crash in the Tver region, the governor has taken “personal control”.
In June, Prigozhin staged a short-lived rebellion against Russia’s conventional army, with thousands of armed mercenaries marching from southern Russia to Moscow with the aim of overthrowing the country’s military leaders.
The uprising ended with an agreement brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Under this, Prigozhin was expected to go with some of his people to neighboring Belarus.