UPDATE: The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has confirmed that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a plane that crashed in Tver Oblast, according to CNN.
In addition, US President Joe Biden has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been behind the crash of a plane near Moscow. He said he wasn’t surprised that the Russian mercenary leader may have been targeted.
Wagner-linked Telegram channels also said Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.
At least eight people have been killed after a private jet that belonged to oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed in Tver Oblast. It came down 60 miles north of Moscow, as per Sky News.
In June 2023, Prigozhin led a short-lived armed mutiny against Russia’s top military, and was described at the time by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “traitor”.
The rebellion ended when President Alexander Lukashenko stepped in to broker a deal and said that Wagner forces who had been previously accused of numerous war crimes against Ukrainian civilians would be based in Belarus after the munity.
The mercenary group leader was on the passenger list but it’s not clear whether he boarded the flight.
Prigozhin was last seen in a video a day ago that reportedly was shot in Africa.
