INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, was presumed dead
aviation agency, which cited the airline
The crash immediately raised suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense
But the charges against Prigozhin were soon dropped
The Wagner chief, whose troops were some of the best fighting forces for Russia in Ukraine, was allowed to retreat to Belarus, while
reportedly popping up in Russia from time to time.The crash also comes after Russian media reported that a top general linked to Prigozhin
was dismissed from his position as commander of the air force.A plane carrying three crew members and seven passengers that was en route
airline, he was indeed on board.Earlier, Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-appointed official in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in
Ukraine, said he talked to Wagner commanders who also confirmed that Prigozhin was aboard, as was Dmitry Utkin, whose call sign Wagner
President Joe Biden said.Keir Giles, a Russia expert with the international affairs think tank Chatham House, had urged caution about
tracking data reviewed by The Associated Press showed a private jet that Prigozhin had used previously took off from Moscow on Wednesday
evening and its transponder signal disappeared minutes later.The signal stopped suddenly while the plane was at altitude and traveling at
In an image posted by a pro-Wagner social media account showing burning wreckage, a partial tail number matching a jet previously used by
Prigozhin could be seen.Videos shared by the pro-Wagner Telegram channel Grey Zone showed a plane dropping like a stone from a large cloud
of smoke, twisting wildly as it fell
Such freefalls can occur when an aircraft sustains severe damage, and a frame-by-frame AP analysis of two videos was consistent with some
sort of explosion mid-flight
of violating air safety rules, as is typical when they open such probes
Interfax, citing emergency officials, reported early Thursday that all 10 bodies had been recovered at the site of the crash and the search
some of the fiercest battles over the past 18 months.His troops pulled back from front-line action after capturing Bakhmut, a city in the
eastern Donetsk region, in late May
Bakhmut had been the subject of arguably the bloodiest battles in the entire war, with the Russian forces struggling to seize it for
months.After the rebellion, Russian officials said his fighters would only be able to return to Ukraine as part of the regular army.This
week, Prigozhin posted his first recruitment video since the mutiny, saying that Wagner is conducting reconnaissance and search activities,
happy, full-of-strength and full-of-ideas Prigozhin was, definitely, a walking source of threats for the authorities, the embodiment of
Associated Press-Agencies
