Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed among the passengers of a plane that crashed in Russia killing 10 people, Russian state media has claimed, although it is not yet clear if he actually boarded the plane.
Russian aviation authorities were quoted by state media agency Tass as saying Prigozhin, who led a failed mutiny against the Russian army in June, was on the passenger manifest for the private plane that came down in the Tver region, about half way between Moscow and St Petersburg.
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Wagner-linked Telegram channels said Russian air defence systems shot down the plane, which was frequently used by Prigozhin. Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s second-in-command at Wagner, was also reportedly listed among the passengers.
This week Prigozhin appeared in a video for the first time since his failed mutiny, suggesting he was in an unspecified country in Africa, where Wagner still has thousands of fighters
Prigozhin was sent into exile in Belarus after his 24-hour mutiny fizzled out in June. But Western officials told VICE News they could not believe that he would be allowed to live out his days in exile.
More to follow.
