Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed lifeless in aircraft crash

AFP

Russia’s strongest mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a aircraft that crashed on Wednesday night north of Moscow with no survivors, the Russian authorities mentioned, two months to the day after he led an abortive mutiny towards the military prime brass.

There was no official remark from the Kremlin or the Defence Ministry on the destiny of Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group and a self-declared enemy of the military’s management over what he argued was its incompetent prosecution of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.

A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, Grey Zone, pronounced him lifeless, nonetheless, and hailed him as a hero and a patriot who it mentioned had died by the hands of unidentified individuals it known as “traitors to Russia”.

Amid fevered hypothesis and an absence of verifiable details, a few of his supporters pointed the finger of blame on the Russian state, others at Ukraine which was on account of mark its Independence Day on Thursday.

Others who’ve opposed President Vladimir Putin or his pursuits have additionally died underneath unclear circumstances or come near demise, together with outspoken political leaders and journalists.

A constructing housing Wagner’s places of work in St Petersburg lit up its home windows after darkish in such a means as to show a large cross in a mark of respect and mourning. Flowers had been left and candles lit close to the places of work early on Thursday.

Prigozhin’s demise would go away the Wagner Group, which incurred Putin’s wrath in June by staging an abortive armed mutiny towards the military’s prime brass, leaderless and lift questions on its future operations in Africa and elsewhere.

The Brazilian Embraer Legacy 600 mannequin of govt jet that crashed has solely recorded one accident in over 20 years of service, in keeping with web site International Aviation HQ, and it was not on account of mechanical failure.

A 2008 Brazilian air power report blamed two US pilots, visitors controllers and defective communications for the mid-air collision, whereas a lawyer for the pilots mentioned particular person air visitors controllers and flaws in Brazil’s air visitors management system precipitated the accident.

Embraer mentioned it has complied with worldwide sanctions imposed on Russia and had not offered upkeep for the plane since 2019.

The aircraft confirmed no signal of an issue till a precipitous drop in its last 30 seconds, in keeping with flight-tracking information.

WAGNER CO-FOUNDER ALSO ON PLANE

Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation company, printed the names of all 10 individuals on board the downed aircraft, together with Prigozhin and that of Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped discovered the mercenary group and bore the decision signal “Wagner”.

Russian investigators mentioned that they had opened a prison investigation. Some unnamed sources informed Russian media they believed the aircraft had been shot down by a number of surface-to-air missiles. Reuters couldn’t affirm that.

The plane, which had been travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, crashed close to the village of Kuzhenkino within the Tver Region, Russia’s emergency conditions ministry mentioned.

SECOND PLANE LINKED TO PRIGOZHIN

Flightradar24 on-line tracker confirmed that the Embraer aircraft (registration quantity RA-02795) carrying Prigozhin had dropped off the radar at 6:11 pm (1511 GMT). An unverified video clip posted to social media confirmed a aircraft resembling a non-public jet falling out of the sky.

Another unverified clip confirmed the burning wreckage of the aircraft on the bottom. At least one physique was seen. Rescuers had recovered seven our bodies from the scene, TASS reported.

Soon after the aircraft crashed, a second personal jet linked to Prigozhin which additionally seemed to be heading to St. Petersburg, Prigozhin’s dwelling base, turned again to Moscow, flight monitoring information confirmed, and later landed.

Prigozhin posted a video deal with on Monday which he advised was made in Africa. He turned up at a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.

Unconfirmed Russian media reviews mentioned that Prigozhin and his associates had attended a gathering on Wednesday with officers from the Russian Defence Ministry. Reuters couldn’t affirm that.