Mystery over death of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, amid claims plane shot down and explosion onboard

23 August 2023, 18:15 | Updated: 24 August 2023, 01:07

Mystery surrounds the death of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in Russia on Wednesday afternoon.

Nine other people on board also died in the crash, which took place at about 6.30pm local time (4.30pm UK time) on Wednesday.

Prigozhin's death was confirmed by Russian officials at about 9pm UK time.

The Embraer jet crashed in a field in a rural area in the Tver region, about 215 miles north-west of Moscow. It was flying from the Russian capital to St Petersburg.

Some outlets claimed the jet had been shot down, while others said there were explosions on board.

Prigozhin, 62, led the Wagner Group uprising, which saw the mercenaries head towards Moscow from Ukraine, before agreeing to stand down, took place exactly two months before the plane crash, on June 23.

Some onlookers suggested that the crash could be revenge by Vladimir Putin's regime for the uprising.

Read more: Many faces of Wagner chief Prigozhin: Warlord’s disguises and chilling pictures of his home leaked after Russian raid

Read more: 'War criminal' Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin 'not safe' in Belarus, says opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

The windows of the Wagner Group's St Petersburg headquarters were lit up in a cross formation on Wednesday evening after the crash. Well-wishers brought flowers to a cafe linked to Prigozhin in the northern Russian city.

Plane 'belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin' falls from sky

The Grey Zone, a media outlet that is supportive of the Wagner Group, claimed the plane was shot down by a Russian air defence system. Photos from the wreckage appeared to show holes in the fuselage.

The outlet said that Prigozhin was "killed as a result of actions by traitors of Russia".

Other outlets claimed two explosions were heard on board, with one Russian Telegram account saying the plane broke into two pieces in mid-air.

Two Russian publications said that authorities are looking into a possible terrorist attack linked to the crash.

Authorities found the bodies of all ten passengers and crew members at the scene within a few hours of the crash.

Russian officials confirmed that passengers Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, Sergey Propustin, Yevgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov, Nikolay Matuseev all died on board.

The crew members, who also died, were: Aleksei Levshin, commander, Rustam Karimov, co-pilot, and Kristina Raspopova, flight attendant.

Some have speculated that Prigozhin was not actually onboard and that this was a way of faking his death. Russia Today boss Margarita Simonyan said that a "staged" accident was being discussed, but that she is inclined to believe the more "obvious" version [that the crash was real].

A second plane, also belonging to Prigozhin, landed in Moscow after the crash. Some have suggested that the mercenary chief may have been on this plane, although there is no indication that this is the case.

The British government said they were monitoring the situation.

US President Joe Biden said he was "not surprised" at the Prigozhin plane crash.

Biden said: "I don't know for a fact what happened. But I'm not surprised...

"There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don't know enough to know the answer."

Russian military expert Yuri Fedorov said he was unsure about the cause of the crash, but there seemed to have been a "complete failure" of onboard control systems.

"If it had been shot down by an air defence missile, then a smoke trail would have been visible on the video - I have not seen a trail yet," he said.

"If it falls like that, then there could be an explosion on board or what could be called a terrorist attack There was a complete failure of the control systems - this can happen as a result of an explosion inside the aircraft, which is generally logical".

Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukraine government advisor and prominent critic of Russia, said: "Whether the plane was shot down by Russian air defence, or it was blown up from the inside, or it was a technical malfunction - it is obvious that this was done solely in the interests of [Vladimir] Putin."

He told Russian opposition media outlet Meduza: "One thing is clear: Prigozhin was eliminated by Putin. He was not going to forgive the betrayal, as well as the humiliation and fear that he experienced during the... rebellion."

Footage and images from the scene show the jet spiraling towards the ground, a trail of smoke visible from the fuselage.

Other footage shows the plane's burning wreckage in a field. The plane fell near several villages, but no one on the ground is thought to have been hurt.

The mercenary boss, who was exiled to Russian ally Belarus after the march on Moscow - released a video showing him speaking in camouflage and holding a rifle.

He is believed to have been in the African country of Mali, where the Wagner Group has operated in recent years.

It was the first video address Prigozhin had shared since the attempted uprising in June.

Prigozhin is thought to have flown into Russia from Africa today.