Dead in Russian plane crash: Prigozhin on passenger list

According to Russian agencies, Prigozhin’s name is on the passenger list, the aviation authority Rozaviazia said on Wednesday. According to preliminary information, all ten people on board died, the Russian civil defense said. The cause of the crash was not officially known at the time.

The Embraer Legacy aircraft was to fly from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where Prigozhin’s companies are based. It crashed in the Tver region near Kuschenkino, more than 200 kilometers from Moscow. There were three crew members on board.

Exactly two months ago to the day, Prigozhin (62) mutinied with his private army Wagner against the Russian leadership, although the background to these events is still unclear to this day. During the advance on Moscow, the mutineers demanded that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Sergei Gerasimov be replaced. But Prigozhin also attacked President Vladimir Putin himself. The Kremlin chief called Prigozhin a traitor. The mutiny ended with the Wagner boss and thousands of his gunmen being able to go to Belarus.

The mercenary force he had built up since 2014 had first carried out unofficial special assignments for Russia in Syria and later also in several African countries. In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Prigozhin recruited prisoners from Russian prisons. The force suffered heavy losses in the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Prigozhin accused the regular military leadership of incompetence and corruption.

Prigozhin was in prison himself and later made a career as purveyor to the Kremlin, hence his nickname “Putin’s cook”. He is also said to have been the businessman behind the troll factories in St. Petersburg, which tried to influence western countries via social media. Recently, a video apparently taken in Africa made headlines: