Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, is reported to be among 10 plane passengers killed in a crash on Wednesday.
A private business jet went down in the Tver region as it was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, according to Russian state-sponsored media outlet Tass. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations or internationally (EMERCOM) was cited as the source confirming the crash and number of casualties.
Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the Southern Military District headquarters on June 24, 2023, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Prigozhin is rumored to have been on board a plane shot down on Wednesday in Russia, leading to his death.ANDALOU AGENCY/GETTY
Videos of the incident have circulated on social media platforms including X, formerly Twitter, showing a plane plummeting towards the ground and erupting in a cloud of dark smoke.
The telegram channel Gray Zone, associated with the paramilitary Wagner Group and its mercenaries, wrote that the plane was allegedly shot down by Russian air defense.
Newsweek cannot independently verify whether Prigozhin was on the plane, and whether it was shot down by Russian military forces.
Prigozhin and former longtime ally Russian President Vladimir Putin worked together in Russia's war efforts against Ukraine dating back to the war's inception in February 2022. But a buildup of resentment between Russia's military forces and leaders and Prigozhin and his fighters led to a short-lived mutiny earlier this summer that resulted in a major rift between the Kremlin and the mercenaries.
The mutiny led to a negotiated deal between both parties that would involve Prigozhin and his men to seek refuge in Belarus, courtesy of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. However, that transition never came to fruition as Prigozhin remained in Russia.
