Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group that led a mutiny against Russia’s army in June and has his soldiers training Niger Coupist Military, was listed among the passengers of a plane that crashed in the Tver Region.
The plane had 10 people on board, including 3 crew members, and all died. Russia’s ministry for emergency situations announced the crash around 1700 GMT. The ministry is currently conducting search operations.
Videos on Telegram channels linked to Wagner posted footage showing the wreckage of the plane burning in a field. In June, Prigozhin led a short-lived rebellion against Russia’s conventional army, with thousands of mercenaries marching from southern Russia towards Moscow.
The mutiny ended with a deal mediated by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, under which Prigozhin was expected to move to Belarus with some of his men. He refused to cede command of Wagner but mostly stayed out of the public eye.
