A crash occurred near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region involving a private Embraer Legacy aircraft that was en route from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. The aircraft was carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin at the time of the incident.

According to reports from Russian state-run news agencies on Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who leads the Wagner group that orchestrated a rebellion against the Russian army in June, was identified as one of the passengers on the plane that crashed. The plane went down in the Tver Region.

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Who was Yevgeny Viktorovich?

Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, formerly a Russian oligarch and leader of mercenaries, had enjoyed a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin until he instigated a rebellion in June 2023. Prigozhin earned the nickname “Putin’s chef” due to his ownership of restaurants and catering businesses that served the Kremlin.

Previously incarcerated during the Soviet Union era, Prigozhin held sway over a web of influential enterprises, most notably the Wagner private military firm, which received backing from the Russian government. He also oversaw three companies accused of meddling in the 2016 and 2018 US elections.

More about the crash:

The information comes out from Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation agency, as cited by TASS news agency. Similar accounts were provided by RIA Novosti and Interfax.

The crash near the town of Kuzhenkino resulted in the loss of ten lives, including that of Prigozhin.

“An inquiry has been initiated into the incident involving the Embraer aircraft that took place tonight in the Tver region. As per the passenger manifest, the name Yevgeny Prigozhin is included,” stated the department.

Other passengers including Yevgeny Prigozhin:

Out of the 10 individuals who lost their lives, three were crew members while the remaining seven were passengers. The passengers were Sergey Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov, Dmitriy Utkin, Nikolay Matuseev, and Prigozhin. Numerous pro-Wagner groups have asserted that Prigozhin met his demise.

Chekalov held a prominent position as an aide to Prigozhin. He faced a sanction by the US Treasury for his involvement in acting “on behalf of Prigozhin” and for facilitating the transportation of munitions to the Russian Federation.

The crew members were Commander Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov, and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova.

In response to the crash, Russian authorities have initiated an investigation and formally lodged a criminal case. The Russian Investigative Committee has dispatched a team to the crash site with the purpose of “determining the reasons behind the crash.”