Russian investigators said on Sunday that genetic tests had confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group, was among the 10 people killed in a plane crash last Wednesday.
Russia’s aviation agency had previously published the names of all 10 people on board the private jet that crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow. They included Mr Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped found the Wagner group.
“As part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular-genetic examinations have been completed,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on its site on the Telegram messaging app.
“According to their results, the identities of all 10 dead were established. They correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet,” it said.
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The statement did not offer any details as to what might have caused the crash.
The private jet crashed two months to the day after Mr Prigozhin led an abortive mutiny against Russia’s army top brass.
President Vladimir Putin described that mutiny as a treacherous “stab in the back”, but later met Mr Prigozhin in the Kremlin. He sent his condolences on Thursday to the families of those the aviation agency said had died in the crash. – Reuters
After Mr Prigozhin (62) mounted a day-long mutiny against Russia’s military, the Kremlin made a deal with him to end the revolt that allowed him to walk free without any charges levied against him.
The brief uprising posed the biggest challenge to Mr Putin’s authority of his 23-year rule.
Western politicians and commentators have suggested, without presenting evidence, that Mr Putin ordered Mr Prigozhin to be killed as punishment for the mutiny.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that such suggestions were “an absolute lie”. Asked whether Mr Putin might attend Mr Prigozhin’s funeral, the spokesman said it was too early to say and also noted the president’s “busy schedule”.
Mr Putin paid a mixed tribute to Mr Prigozhin on Thursday, describing him as a “talented businessman” but also as a flawed character who “made serious mistakes in life”.
Wagner fighters played a prominent role in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, especially in the months-long siege of the city of Bakhmut, despite Mr Prigozhin’s frequent, profanity-laced attacks on Russia’s military high command over their conduct of the war that culminated in the failed mutiny.
The Wagner fighters have now left Ukraine and some have relocated to neighbouring Belarus under the terms of a deal that ended their mutiny.
Some are expected to be absorbed into Russia’s armed forces but many will be angry over the sudden demise of the group’s founder who inspired a high degree of loyalty among his men. – Agencies