Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin dead in plane crash, Russia confirms

Russia has confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner group looked set to topple Putin in a mutiny two months ago, has been killed in a plane crash.

The boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been killed in a plane crash, Russian authorities have confirmed.

It comes exactly two months to the day after Prigozhin masterminded a failed coup against the Kremlin.

Seven passengers and three crew were on board a private jet flying in the Tver region. It crashed about 6pm Wednesday, Moscow time (1am Thursday, AEST) in the village of Kuzhenkino around 350km north west of Moscow.

Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority said Prigozhin was on the plane. It added Wagner commander and co-founder Dmitry Utkin also died in the crash, along with all eight others on board.

All 10 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage, Russian media has reported, citing emergency services.

Footage has captured the plane as it fell from the sky before crashing into the ground, with a large plume of smoke billowing from the wreckage.

Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been killed in a plane crash in Russia, Russian authorities have confirmed. Picture: Handout/Telegram/@razgruzka_vagnera/AFP

Footage shared on social media captured the plane as it fell from the sky in Russia’s Tver region. Picture: Handout / Telegram/@grey_zone/AFP

A plume from the wreckage of the plane carrying Prigozhin. Picture: Twitter/@Azovsouth

There had been some speculation Prigozhin may have been on another jet that was spotted in the region on the same day. However, Prigozhin’s name was on the passenger manifest and the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said he was on the aircraft.

US President Joe Biden has responded to the crash, saying “there is not much that happens in Russian that Putin is not behind” — fuelling suspicion the Kremlin may have had a hand in the downing of the aircraft.

The aircraft went down en route from the Russian capital to St Petersburg. Picture: Twitter / @Azovsouth

According to Russian news agency TASS, the Embraer private jet had been heading from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo international airport to St Petersburg.

“There were three crew and seven passengers on board. They all died,” TASS said.

The jet was believed to have been owned by Prigozhin and had been regularly used to shuttle him between cities in Russia and Belarus.

Russia’s civil aviation authority has said it will investigate the crash. A criminal investigation has also been launched by authorities.

Fell out of the sky

It’s claimed two bangs were heard prior to the crash.

Images on Twitter, now known as X, have shown what appears to be a plane tumbling from the sky, followed by a large plume of smoke.

Another image shows a fire from a potential crash site.

Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner group troops in Bakhmut, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on May 20, 2023. Picture: AFP

Prigozhin, 62, was last seen in a video recording, reportedly in Africa, where Wagner has extensive activities paid for by local governments which also support Russia.

Wagner has played a key role in Russia’s war in Ukraine but Prigozhin has frequently clashed with military bosses.

Prigozhin led a short lived mutiny against the Russian government on June 23-24, seizing the key city of Rostov-on-Don. That came after he ridiculed the tactics of the war in Ukraine on social media and claimed that the grounds for it beginning were false.

He never directly targeted Vladimir Putin but any criticism of the Kremlin is difficult to divide from the Russian President.

Prigozhin had heavily criticised the tracts of the war in Ukraine and even its basis. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool/AFP

‘No one should be surprised’

After a convoy led by Prigozhin turned back from Moscow, the Kremlin said that Wagner troops could head to Belarus and would be offered the opportunity of joining the regular army.

Prigozhin also agreed to move to Belarus but has extensively travelled since June, including within Russia.

“If confirmed, no one should be surprised,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Wednesday afternoon, US time.

“The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now – it would seem — to this”.

Joe Biden himself had warned Prigozhin, a former chef and hospitality entrepreneur, to be “careful” what he ate, after the failed coup.

“I’d keep my eye on my menu.”