Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed among passengers on a private jet that crashed in Russia’s Tver region on Wednesday, Interfax reported, citing the nation’s aviation authority.
All three pilots and seven passengers aboard the plane that was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg are dead, state-run Tass news service reported late Wednesday.
The crash occurred exactly two months after Prigozhin led a mutiny that posed the greatest threat to President Vladimir Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule. Putin had denounced the June rebellion as “treason” but Prigozhin escaped any retaliation by the Kremlin under a deal brokered to end the revolt as his fighters came within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow.
Since then, Prigozhin had appeared to upstage Putin by appearing in St. Petersburg last month meeting with African officials at the same time as the president was hosting a showcase Russia-Africa summit. His Wagner fighters also avoided punishment under the deal, even as about a dozen air force crew had died during the revolt.
Wagner was also allowed to keep some of its extensive operations on the continent, including in the Central African Republic, despite Prigozhin’s rebellion.
Russian authorities are investigating the circumstances of the jet crash, the press service of the Tver regional government said in a separate statement on its website that gave no details on the identity of the casualties.
