Exactly two months after the mutiny of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of his private jets crashed. The 62-year-old Wagner boss is said to have been on board the plane. His death has not yet been officially confirmed. An overview of what is known so far.
What happened to the plane?
A private jet manufactured by Embraer has crashed in the Tver region of Russia, about 200 kilometers northwest of Moscow. The Tass news agency reported the crash at 6:54 p.m. German time, and the machine apparently disappeared from the radar at 6:20 p.m. The plane was bound for Saint Petersburg, Prigozhin’s hometown.
How many people were on board?
Seven passengers and three crew members are said to have been on the plane. The Russian news agency Ria first reported that eight dead had been recovered. Late on Wednesday evening, the Interfax agency wrote that there were ten bodies – the salvage was complete.
Was the Wagner boss among the passengers?
There is no confirmation for this yet. The Russian Aviation Authority Rosawiazija published the names on the passenger list – including that of Yevgeny Prigozhin. According to official information, the dead have not yet been identified, so there is no certainty whether the people named were really on board the plane. In the case of Prigozhin in particular, it is known that there are said to be some people who are traveling with his identity – for his safety. So it is not completely absurd that in this case, too, a double and not Prigozhin himself was on board.
The Telegram channel “Grey Zone” announced at 9:27 p.m. German time, however, that Prigozhin was dead be. A co-founder of the mercenary group, Wagner commander Dmitri Utkin, was also on board, it said. His name is also on the passenger list – and “Grey Zone” also reports on his death.
The channel is said to be close to the Wagner Group and thus to Prigozchin, and videos and statements by the mercenary boss were often played out about it. But it is unclear who exactly is behind it. Channel information cannot be independently verified.
Who were the other passengers?
In addition to Prigozhin and Utkin, the aviation authority’s list includes the following names: Sergei Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov and Nikolai Matuseev. Pilot Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and stewardess Kristina Raspopova are said to have been on board as crew. It is also not confirmed whether they were really on the plane that crashed.
What is known about the cause of the crash?
The reason for the crash is currently completely unclear. There is a lot of speculation in social media such as X, formerly Twitter, or in the messenger service Telegram. Videos are circulating that are supposed to show how Prigozhin’s private jet tumbles almost vertically to the ground and disappears there in a large cloud of smoke. In fact, the data from the Flightradar24 portal also confirms that the machine was apparently completely inconspicuous up to 30 seconds before the crash. Then she suddenly flew straight down, dropping from a cruising altitude of about 28,000 feet (a good 8,500 meters) to 8,000 feet within seconds. “Whatever happened, it happened very quickly,” a Flightradar24 employee told Reuters.
The Telegram channel “Grey Zone” published the version of a targeted shooting in the evening. The plane was hit by Russian anti-aircraft defenses, it said. The Russian news agency Tass, however, claims that the plane crashed and caught fire on the ground. Again, there is neither concrete evidence nor the possibility of verification.
Was it Vladimir Putin’s revenge?
For many it seems clear that it couldn’t have been an accident – and that there is a clear motive for the jet being brought down on purpose: revenge.
Exactly two months ago, on June 23, Prigozhin mutinied with his private army against the Russian leadership and also attacked Putin himself, although the background to these events remains unclear to this day. The mutiny ended with the Wagner boss and thousands of his gunmen being able to go to Belarus.
At the time, the Russian president called Prigozhin a “traitor.” And it did happen that people who fell out of favor with Putin sometimes disappeared or died strange deaths. But the same applies here: there is currently no evidence.
Some observers are suspicious that it took the Rosawiazija aviation authority just an hour to publish the names of the passengers. Usually, the authority needs much longer with such information. In fact, nothing can be derived from this distrust.
Was there another plane?
After the crash, there was speculation on social media and also on the “Grey Zone” telegram channel because, according to the Flightradar24 portal, two of Prigozhin’s planes were said to have been on the road in the evening. We are talking about the two private jets with the identifiers RA-02795 and RA-02748. The former is the plane that crashed over Tver, the other is said to have flown from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and back again. Based on this, speculation is circulating on the Internet that the Wagner boss may not have been in the crashed plane at all.
What happens now at the crash site?
Russian authorities have apparently launched an investigation into the case. According to a BBC report, the emergency services in the Tver region have already completed their work. Residents of Kuschenkino can be seen in photos standing next to parts of the wreckage of the aircraft. Igor Rudenya, the governor of the region, is now responsible for further investigations in Twer.
Russian soldiers guard a road near the crashed private jet near the village of Kushenkino.
(Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/dpa)
When was Prigozhin last seen?
The mercenary leader last reported on Monday a video – allegedly from Africa – to speak. In the approximately 40-second clip, Prigozhin can be seen in camouflage clothing and holding a gun. His Wagner troop carried out reconnaissance work and made “Russia even bigger on all continents. And Africa even freer,” he said.
What is the role of the Wagner troupe in the Russian state?
The group of mercenaries set up by Prigozhin first carried out unofficial special assignments for Russia in Syria and later also in several African countries. In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Prigozhin recruited prisoners from Russian prisons. The force suffered heavy losses in the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Prigozhin accused the regular military leadership of incompetence and corruption.
Prigozhin was in prison himself and later made a career as purveyor to the Kremlin, hence his nickname “Putin’s cook”. He is also said to have been the businessman behind the troll factories in St. Petersburg, which tried to influence western countries via social media.