MOSCOW — Officials say Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a jet that crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing 10 people.
Update 4:38 p.m. EDT Aug. 23: Russian aviation agency says Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the plane that crashed Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. All 10 passengers on board were killed.
Original story: It is not clear if Prigozhin was on the jet, according to The Associated Press. Prigozhin’s fate has been a part of speculation since he tried to go against Russia’s military in June.
The plane was believed to be carrying three pilots and seven passengers, the AP reported. It was heading to St. Petersburg from Moscow before it went down about 60 miles from the capital, officials say, according to Russia’s state news agency, Tass.
“An investigation of the Embraer plane crash that happened in the Tver Region this evening was initiated,” the Federal Agency for Air Transport of Russia said in a statement obtained by Tass, according to The New York Times.
Russia’s civilian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia was reportedly the one who said that Prigozhin was on the passenger list. All 10 people on the plane were killed, Russian authorities say, according to the Times.
According to the newspaper, U.S. officials said that they could not confirm Russian reports that Prigozhin was on the jet or not. The White House also confirmed that President Biden has been briefed on the crash.
Prigozhin is the founder of the Wagner private military company that fought along with the Russian army in Ukraine. According to the AP, the Kremlin said that following June’s incident, Prigozhin would be exiled to Belarus. However, since he was spotted in Russia.
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