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NEW DELHI: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in the August 23 plane crash, Russia’s investigative committee confirmed on Sunday.
“As part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular-genetic examinations have been completed. According to their results, the identities of all 10 dead were established. They correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet,” the committee said in a statement.
Russia’s civil aviation authority earlier this week said Prigozhin, along with some of his top lieutenants, were on the list of those on board the plane that crashed Wednesday.
Among the nine other people listed onboard the Embraer private jet that crashed on Wednesday was Dmitry Utkin, a shadowy figure who managed Wagner’s operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.
Prigozhin, 62, was killed two months after he mounted a daylong mutiny against Russia’s military that President Vladimir Putin decried as ‘treason’.
Putin had expressed condolences to the family of the Russian mercenary chief in a televised address on Thursday. Putin recalled the Wagner chief as a ‘talented man who made mistakes’.
Speculation that the Kremlin may have been involved in the crash has been rife, with the incident coming exactly two months after Wagner staged a mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership.
The fate of Wagner, which until recently played a prominent role in Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and was involved in a number of African and Middle Eastern countries, has remained uncertain.
– With agency inputs
“As part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular-genetic examinations have been completed. According to their results, the identities of all 10 dead were established. They correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet,” the committee said in a statement.
Russia’s civil aviation authority earlier this week said Prigozhin, along with some of his top lieutenants, were on the list of those on board the plane that crashed Wednesday.
Among the nine other people listed onboard the Embraer private jet that crashed on Wednesday was Dmitry Utkin, a shadowy figure who managed Wagner’s operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.
Prigozhin, 62, was killed two months after he mounted a daylong mutiny against Russia’s military that President Vladimir Putin decried as ‘treason’.
Putin had expressed condolences to the family of the Russian mercenary chief in a televised address on Thursday. Putin recalled the Wagner chief as a ‘talented man who made mistakes’.
Speculation that the Kremlin may have been involved in the crash has been rife, with the incident coming exactly two months after Wagner staged a mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership.
The fate of Wagner, which until recently played a prominent role in Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and was involved in a number of African and Middle Eastern countries, has remained uncertain.
– With agency inputs
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