Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was aboard the plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency.
Rosaviatsia posted a list of seven passengers and three crew members who it said were aboard the plane “according to the airline.” The private jet crashed en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Russian capital.
Exactly two months ago, Prigozhin led a short mutiny against the Russian military that President Vladimir Putin denounced as “treason” and “stab in the back”. The Russian leader vowed to avenge it. But the charges against Prigozhin were soon dropped, and the Wagner chief was allowed to retreat to Belarus, while reportedly popping back in Russia from time to time.
The jet crash immediately raises suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny. The Kremlin said he would be exiled to Belarus, but the mercenary chief, whose troops were some of the best fighting forces for Russia in Ukraine, has since reportedly popped up in Russia.
The crash also comes after Russian media reported that a top general linked to Prigozhin was dismissed from his position as commander of the air force.
This week, Prigozhin posted his first recruitment video since the mutiny, saying that Wagner is conducting reconnaissance and search activities, and “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.”
Also this week, Russian media reported, citing anonymous sources, that Gen. Sergei Surovikin was dismissed from his position of the commander of Russia’s air force. Surovikin, who at one point led Russia’s operation in Ukraine, hasn’t been seen in public since the mutiny, when he recorded a video address urging Prigozhin’s forces to pull back. As news of the crash was breaking, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at an event commemorating the Battle of Kursk, hailing the heroes of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
