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WagnerAs boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on crashed plane: What to know

Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private
jet that crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors. Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves a
cemetery before the funeral of a Russian military blogger who was killed
in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe,
Published On 23 Aug 202323 Aug 2023

Russian authorities have confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the
Wagner Group that led a mutiny against RussiaAs army in June, was on board
a plane that crashed outside Moscow.

RussiaAs emergency situations ministry said all 10 people on board were killed.
Keep reading
list of 4 items
list 1 of 4
World reaction to possible death of Wagner chief Prigozhin
list 2 of 4
Has Russia pulled the plug on the Wagner Group?
list 3 of 4
Wagner boss posts first video since Russia mutiny, hints heAs in Africa
list 4 of 4
aNo survivorsA on board crashed plane carrying Wagner chief Prigozhin
end of list

Here is what we know so far:
What happened and when?

According to authorities, 10 people have died after a private jet crashed north of Moscow,

Around 17:00 GMT, the ministry announced that a oprivate Embraer Legacy
600 aircraft traveling from Moscow to Saint Petersburg crashedo.

It said that 10 people were on board, including three crew members.
According to authorities, eight bodies have been found.

RussiaAs Federal Agency for Air Transport also said it launched a
ospecially created commissiono to investigate the crash.

A Telegram channel believed to be linked to Prigozhin also said that the Wagner leader was dead.

The FlightRadar24 online tracker showed that the Embraer Legacy (plane
number RA-02795) had dropped off the radar at 6:11pm (15:11 GMT).

Soon after the plane dropped out of the sky, a second private jet linked
to Prigozhin, which also appeared to be heading to St Petersburg, turned
back to Moscow and later landed, flight tracking data showed.
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Where did the plane crash?

RussiaAs emergency situations ministry said that the plane crashed near
the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region. INTERACTIVE_RUSSIA_AIRPLANE_CRASH_WAGNER_AUG24.ai-1692864958
(Al Jazeera)


Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner leader listed as a passenger on the plane?

Prigozhin, 62, soared in prominence after RussiaAs February 2022 invasion
of Ukraine, where his fighters u including thousands of convicts he
recruited from prison u led the Russian assault on the city of Bakhmut in
the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Prigozhin used social media to trumpet WagnerAs successes and wage a feud
with RussiaAs military establishment, accusing it of incompetence and even treason.

In June, Prigozhin led a mutiny in which Wagner fighters took control of
the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and shot down a number of military helicopters, killing their pilots, as they advanced towards Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin called it an act of treason that would meet with
a harsh response.

The revolt was defused in a deal whereby the Kremlin said that in order to avert bloodshed, Prigozhin and some of his fighters would leave for
Belarus and a criminal case against him for armed mutiny would be dropped.

Confusion has surrounded the implementation of the deal and the future of Prigozhin.

Born in St Petersburg on June 1, 1961, Prigozhin spent nine years in
Soviet prisons for crimes including robbery and fraud. Released in 1990
amid the Soviet UnionAs death throes, he launched a career as a caterer
and restaurateur in his hometown. He is believed to have met Putin, then a
top aide to St PetersburgAs mayor, at this time.

Read more about him here.

Video Duration 00 minutes 51 seconds 00:51
Plane of Russian Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin crashes near Moscow
Who else was on the plane?

Russian civil aviation authority said that Dmitry Utkin, PrigozhinAs right-hand man, was also on board and that Prigozhin and his associates
had attended a meeting with officials from the Russian defence ministry.
What have been the reactions so far?

Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, on social media
platform X reacted to the incident by saying oit was worth waiting for the
fog of war to disappearo.

oaIt is obvious that Putin does not forgive anyone for his own bestial
terror a The demonstrative elimination of Prigozhin and the Wagner command
two months after the coup attempt is a signal from Putin to RussiaAs
elites ahead of the 2024 elections. aBeware! Disloyalty equals deathA,o he added.

US President Joe Biden said he was onot surprisedo by reports.

Kaja Kallas, prime minister of Estonia, said to CNN that if true, this was
a strong message to detractors.

oIf true, it shows Putin will eliminate opponents, and that scares anyone
who is thinking of expressing [an] opinion different than his.o

British lawmaker Alicia Kearns, chair of the UK ParliamentAs Foreign
Affairs Committee, said Putin was sending a loud message.

oThe speed at which the Russian Govt has confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin was
on a plane that crashed on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg should
tell us everything we need to know. Reports Russian Air Defence shot down
the plane suggests Putin is sending a very loud message.o

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau commented on this on the state news channel TVP Info:

oa We would have great trouble naming anyone who would intuitively think
this was a coincidence. It so happens that political opponents whom
Vladimir Putin considers a threat to his power do not die naturally.o
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