The Russian Invasion|The plane crash in Tver

Yevgeny Prigozhin. AP  

The Russian Invasion|The plane crash in Tver

Russian media: Prigozhin on passenger list in crashed plane - "all dead"  

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to be on the passenger list of a private plane that crashed outside Moscow. This is stated by the Russian Aviation Agency, according to the state news agency Tass. According to information, everyone on board must have died.  

"A private Embraer Legacy aircraft en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed near the village of Kuzjenkino in the Tver region. There were ten people on board, including three crewmen. According to preliminary information, everyone on board is dead," the authorities write on Telegram, according to TT. 

According to unconfirmed media reports cited by the AP, Prigozhin is listed as the owner of the plane, and an investigation has been launched, according to the Russian Aviation Agency.  

The Wagner-linked Telegram account Gray Zone writes that the downed plane with Prigozhin on the passenger list was shot down by Russian air defense, according to the BBC. 

In June, Yevgeny Prigozhin led the short-lived rebellion against the Russian leadership in the Kremlin. After a deal between the Russian leadership and the Wagner leader, allegedly brokered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin was allowed to walk free.  

Prigozhin. Archive image. AP  

Wagner-linked account: The plane was shot down by Russian air defenses 

The downed plane with Yevgeny Prigozhin on the passenger list was shot down by Russian air defense, according to the Wagner-linked Telegram account Gray Zone, according to the BBC. According to the account, witnesses state that two bangs were heard before the crash. 

The plane crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow while en route to St. Petersburg on Wednesday night. The Russian aviation authority says that three crew members and seven passengers died in the crash, according to the state news agency Tass.  

 

A passport photo of Dmitry Utkin (born 1970) made available by the Saint Petersburg newspaper Fontanka. 

 

Creative Commons Wagner founder Utkin is also said to be among the dead  

 

Wagner group founder Dmitrij Utkin is also said to have been on board the crashed plane, Wagner-linked accounts on Telegram state according to several media outlets.  

 

The Wagner group is said to have been named after Utkin, a former Spetsnaz soldier and GRU colonel who used Wagner as his nom de guerre.

Joakim Huovinen and Yevgeny Prigozhin. AP 

Russian invasionReactions to the plane crash 

Expert: A fate like others who opposed the Kremlin  

Many have met a similar fate after opposing the Kremlin. This is what lieutenant colonel Johan Huovinen tells SVT about the information that Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has died in a plane crash.  

Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi agrees with Huovinen, and would not be surprised if it turned out that the accident was staged by Moscow. 

- This fits very well into the pattern of unfortunate people suffering from tragic accidents, he says to DN. 

SVT's former Russia correspondent Bert Sundström still wants to downplay the information.  

- What we know is that a plane has crashed and that Prigozhin was on the passenger list. It indicates that he was on board, but it is not entirely certain that this is the case, he tells SVT.