The BBC already had time to report that Prigozhin had died. The information has not been confirmed so far. The news is updated.
Mikko Leppänen,
Roni Kuronen
Founder of the Russian mercenary company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin may have died in a plane crash in Russia, says BBC.
In Russia, ten people died on Wednesday when a private plane crashed between St. Petersburg and Moscow.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, the Russian Ministry of Emergencies says about it.
There were seven passengers and three crew members on board.
According to the Russian Civil Aviation Authority, the name of Yevgeni Prigožin, the founder of the mercenary company Wagner, was on the plane’s passenger list, says Tass. However, according to the authorities, it is not yet clear whether Prigozhin had boarded the plane.
According to unconfirmed information, the accident plane is a private plane owned by Prigožin. According to the claims spreading on Telegram, another Wagner boss also Dmitry Utkin would be one of the passengers of the crashed plane
According to the BBC, the Telegram channel connected to the mercenary company Wagner says that the Tver air defense shot down the plane. The plane had been in the air for less than half an hour.
Tass says that the plane caught fire after falling to the ground. RIA Novosti the bodies of eight people have already been found. However, the identity of the victims has not yet been confirmed.
Independent Russian news website Medusa says that another private plane owned by Prigozhin has just landed in Moscow.
Only yesterday, Prigozhin released a video from an unconfirmed location in which he strongly hinted that he had returned to Africa.
– We are at work. The temperature is above 50 degrees, and everything is as we like it. Wagner makes Russia bigger and bigger on all continents and Africa freer, he states in the video.
– Freedom and happiness for the people of Africa – we make the lives of ISIS and Al-Qaeda and other bandits hell, he continues.
Sources: AFP, Reuters