A handout photograph taken and released by Russian Investigative Committee on August 23, 2023, shows rescuers working at the site of a plane crash near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region. A private plane crashed in Moscow's Tver region and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the list of passengers, Russian agencies said on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Handout / Russian Investigative Committee / AFP)
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was aboard the plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency.
Rosaviatsia posted a list of seven passengers and three crew members who it said were aboard the plane "according to the airline.” The private jet crashed en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Russian capital.
Exactly two months ago, Prigozhin led a short mutiny against the Russian military that President Vladimir Putin denounced as "treason” and "stab in the back.” The Russian leader vowed to avenge it.
But the charges against Prigozhin were soon dropped, and the Wagner chief was allowed to retreat to Belarus, while reportedly popping back in Russia from time to time.
The crash immediately raises suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny. The Kremlin said he would be exiled to Belarus, but the mercenary chief, whose troops were some of the best fighting forces for Russia in Ukraine, has since reportedly popped up in Russia.
The crash also comes after Russian media reported that a top general linked to Prigozhin was dismissed from his position as commander of the air force.
A plane carrying three pilots and seven passengers that was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg went down more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, according to officials cited by Russia’s state news agency Tass. It was not clear if Prigozhin was among those on board, though Russia’s civilian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said he was on the manifest.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-appointed official in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, said he talked to Wagner commanders who confirmed that Prigozhin was aboard when the plane crashed.
Prigozhin's top associate, Dmitry Utkin, whose call sign Wagner became the company’s name, was as well, according to Rogov.
This week, Prigozhin posted his first recruitment video since the mutiny, saying that Wagner is conducting reconnaissance and search activities, and "making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.”
Also this week, Russian media reported, citing anonymous sources, that Gen. Sergei Surovikin was dismissed from his position of the commander of Russia's air force. Surovikin, who at one point led Russia's operation in Ukraine, hasn't been seen in public since the mutiny, when he recorded a video address urging Prigozhin's forces to pull back.
As news of the crash was breaking, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at an event commemorating the Battle of Kursk, hailing the heroes of Russia's war in Ukraine.
