(Dan Tri) – The plane carrying tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin and other senior members of Wagner crashed on the evening of August 23, killing all 10 people on board.
The scene of the accident of the plane believed to be carrying Wagner tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin (Photo: Russian Investigative Committee).
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s private military company Wagner, who organized an unsuccessful rebellion in June, was on the list of people on the private plane that crashed outside Moscow on August 23.
More than 24 hours since the accident, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the victims of the plane crash, emphasizing that Mr. Prigozhin was a talented man but had a cruel fate.
The following is known information about the plane crash.
What happened?
The plane believed to be carrying Mr. Prigozhin left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for St.
Russian site RIA Novosti late on August 23 posted an unverified video showing a plane losing control and falling almost vertically, with a trail of light gray smoke behind it.
Other videos shared on Telegram show the Embraer Legacy 600 model personal jet burning on the ground.
The moment the plane believed to be carrying leader Wagner crashed (Video: RT).
The Russian aviation agency has not commented on the cause of the accident.
According to flight tracking data, the plane showed no signs of trouble until it suddenly plunged in the final 30 seconds.
Flightradar24 said in a report on August 23 that the jet reached an altitude of more than 8,500 meters at 6:00 p.m. Moscow time.
After that, the plane flew up and down erratically at an altitude of several hundred meters for about 12 seconds before suddenly dropping to an altitude of more than 2,400 meters in about 20 seconds.
Who was on the plane?
The flight’s passenger manifest released by Russian authorities showed that there were 10 people on the plane, including 7 passengers and 3 crew members.
Russian aviation authorities said all people on board were killed.
Is Mr. Prigozhin really dead?
Before Mr. Putin spoke about the accident on the evening of August 24, a number of Telegram accounts related to the Wagner group also said Mr. Prighozin had died.
The New York Times quoted a senior Western intelligence official confirming that Mr. Prigozhin was on the crashed plane.
RT quoted information from the website FlightRadar24 reporting that the second plane linked to Mr. Prigozhin with tail number RA-02878 left Moscow immediately after the first one.
A member of the Wagner group commemorates leader Yevgeny Prigozhin outside the PMC Wagner office in Novosibirsk on August 24 (Photo: AFP).
What does the Kremlin say?
More than 24 hours have passed since the plane crash, the Kremlin has not commented on the accident or on Mr. Prigozhin’s fate.
At around 7:00 p.m. local time on August 24, President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the families of those who died in the accident.
The Russian President emphasized that PMC Wagner Group has made great contributions to the fight against `fascists` in Ukraine.
What is the future of the Wagner group?
It is unclear what the situation will be with Wagner’s group because some of Mr. Prigozhin’s top subordinates were also on the crashed plane.
Those in distress include former military intelligence officer Dmitry Utkin, a key figure at Wagner since its founding in 2014. Officials said Valeriy Cherkaskov, who ran the company’s extensive business operations,
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video posted on August 21 (Photo: Twitter).
According to Bloomberg, there are some signs that the Wagner group’s business empire could be taken over by Russian corporations or government agencies.
How did Wagner’s revolt take place?
In June, Mr. Prigozhin announced that the Russian army had shelled a field camp of the Wagner group, where this force was recuperating.
In response, Mr. Putin described the uprising as a `stab in the back` and promised to take `decisive actions` to restore order.
Less than a day after it began, the uprising was defused thanks to mediation by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
After 2 months of silence, Mr. Prigozhin posted a video that appeared to be filmed in Africa on August 21.
