MOSCOW: Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was among 10 people killed in the crash of a private jet near Moscow, the Russian aviation authority told state-run news agencies on Wednesday evening.The Embraer plane went down in the Tver Region northwest of Moscow.
"An investigation of the Embraer plane crash that happened in the Tver Region this evening was initiated," the Rosaviatsiya aviation agency said, according to the TASS news agency.
"According to the passenger list, the first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list," the agency noted.
Prigozhin led a short-lived armed rebellion against the leadership in Moscow in June, posing the gravest challenge ever to President Vladimir Putin's two-decade grip on power.
Prigozhin had his mercenaries occupy the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and then sent military columns marching towards Moscow.
Prigozhin called the Russian military leadership corrupt and incompetent. He had complained for months of inadequate munitions supplies for his fighters serving on the frontlines of Putin's war in Ukraine.
Putin described the revolt as "treason" at the time.
But shortly before his troops reached Moscow, Prigozhin ordered a retreat after negotiations with the Kremlin, in which Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko acted as mediator.
As part of the deal reached to escape prosecution, Prigozhin and his Wagner fighters were offered sanctuary in Belarus.
