MOSCOW — Russia’s Investigative Committee said Sunday that it has confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary group Wagner, was killed in a plane crash.
Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement that forensic testing identified all 10 bodies recovered at the site of Wednesday’s crash and the findings “conform to the manifest” of the plane. The statement didn’t offer any details as to what might have caused the crash.
Russia’s civil aviation authority earlier this week said Prigozhin, along with some of his top lieutenants, were on the list of the passengers and crew members on board the plane.
Among the other nine people listed onboard the Embraer private jet was Dmitry Utkin, a Nazi-tattooed shadowy figure who managed Wagner’s operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.
Prigozhin, 62, was killed after mounting a daylong mutiny against Russia’s military that Russian President Vladimir Putin decried as “treason.” The Kremlin cut a deal with Prigozhin to end the armed revolt that allowed him to walk free without any charges levied against him.
The brief uprising posed the biggest challenge to Putin’s authority of his 23-year rule.
Russian servicemen inspect a part of a crashed private jet near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region, Russia, August 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Speculation the Kremlin may have been involved in the crash has been rife, with the incident coming exactly two months after the mutiny.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the incident as “tragic” to reporters on Friday, calling rumors of possible foul play an “absolute lie.”
Russian officials opened an investigation into air traffic violations after the crash but have otherwise not disclosed details about the possible cause.
