Mercenary boss, Prigozhin, feared dead in plane crash

Russian mercenary group (Wagner) boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was on the list of passengers on an aircraft that crashed in the Tver Region on Wednesday evening.

According to Russian authorities, no survivors in the crash.

There was no confirmation that Prigozhin was physically on board.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has said that private aircraft “came down” near the village of Kuzhenkino – and all were killed.

“An investigation has been launched into an Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the passenger list, the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin is among them,” Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation agency, was cited as saying by the state TASS news agency.

The ministry says the jet was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, and that 10 people, including three crew members, were on board.

Eight bodies have been found at the crash site, according to Russian news agency. It’s not been confirmed if Prigozhin was amongst those on board.

Prigozhin has been keeping a low public profile since heading his short-lived mutiny in June, which lasted only 24 hours.

He last appearing in a video earlier this week which was said to have been filmed in an unspecified location in Africa.

The Wagner mercenary group was founded in 2014 and was highly active in the Ukraine war until the June mutiny.

The mutiny was ended by negotiations and an apparent Kremlin deal which saw Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighbouring Belarus. But he had appeared to move freely inside Russia after the deal nonetheless.

Prigozhin, who had sought to topple Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, on Monday posted a video address which he suggested was taken in Africa.

Unconfirmed Russian media reports said that Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s right-hand man, was also on board and that Prigozhin and his associates had attended a meeting with officials from the Russian Defence Ministry.