Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was widely reported to have led a “coup” attempt in Russia two months ago, was killed on Wednesday after his plane “crashed” in Russia’s Tver region, according to RT.
A private jet traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s Tver Region. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said all 10 people on board had died. Rosaviation has since said that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Private Military Company, was listed among the passengers.
“The Embraer plane was flying out of Sheremetyevo to St. Petersburg. There were three crew and seven passengers on board. They all died,” an Emergencies Ministry official told TASS.
The crash happened near the village of Kuzhenkino in the northwestern Tver Region. Some Russian outlets have identified the plane as an Embraer Legacy 600, with the tail number RA-02795, which is believed to belong to Prigozhin. However, this was not confirmed by officials.
Little information has come out about the crash but obviously everyone is assuming this was an assassination. Video was released showing his plane falling from the sky, with speculation that it was shot down by Russia’s air defenses.
⚡️ The plane that crashed in the Tver region belongs to Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to Baza and journalist Ksenia Sobchak. There were 7 people on board the Embraer business jet, they died. Видео: соцсети pic.twitter.com/EzyZ3PbVT8
-ЭХО (@echofm_online) August 23, 2023
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has announced that an Investigation has been launched to determine the “Cause” of the Aircraft Crash in the Tver Region which Killed all 10 Passengers onboard including Yevgeny Prigozhin. pic.twitter.com/1kguZWO4lr— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender)August 23, 2023
⚡️#BREAKING Russian telegram with ties to Wagner claims that people close to Prigozhin and Dimitri Utkin confirmed their deaths pic.twitter.com/Xkg7dnZr5N — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 23, 2023
⚡”Dmytriy Utkin, founder of Wagner and “right hand” of Prigozhin, was also on board the plane that crashed”, – rosZMI pic.twitter.com/48Bm5U64R6 — MAKS 23 👀🇺🇦 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) August 23, 2023
Just yesterday, RT was oddly touting Prigozhin’s push for recruiting in Africa “to make Russia greater.”
⚡️#BREAKING Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video for the first time in a while, this time from Africa and invites people to join the ranks of Wagner PMC. pic.twitter.com/gSb8YaqMp9
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 21, 2023