Wagner Group leader was listed on a flight manifest of passengers on a plane which crashed in Russian territory on Wednesday.
Conspiracy theories are swirling around the possible death of notorious Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after a plane crashed over Russian territory on Wednesday.
Russia’s civil aviation authority said that a private jet listing former Kremlin ally Prigozhin as a passenger had crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people on board the aircraft. The passengers included Dmitry Utkin, a former Russian officer with the call sign, «Wagner,» who is thought to have co-founded the mercenary outfit.
The crash happened two months to the day after Prigozhin led a short-lived armed rebellion against the Kremlin, with his forces seizing the southern city of Rostov-on-Don before marching towards the Russian capital. The mutiny was called off in a deal said to have been brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The passenger list released by Russian authorities showed seven passengers and three crew members onboard the aircraft at the time. An investigation has been launched into the incident, Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said.
The plane crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino, in the Tver region, and footage quickly emerged of the plane plummeting towards the ground. along with photos of the wreckage.
The bodies found at the crash site have not yet been identified, the influential Rybar military blogger account said on Thursday. The account is thought to be run by a former Russian Defense Ministry employee. Another Russian outlet claimed Prigozhin’s body had been transferred to a morgue and was being examined in Tver.
