Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been confirmed dead, according to Russian officials, following a genetic analysis of the bodies recovered from the plane crash on Wednesday.
The identities of all 10 victims had been determined, according to the Investigative Committee (SK), and they matched those listed on the flight’s passenger list.
On August 23, Prigozhin’s private plane crashed to the ground northwest of Moscow, killing everyone on board.
The Kremlin has refuted claims that it was responsible for the crash.
According to the SK, a criminal investigation was still ongoing.
“Molecular-genetic testing has been completed,” it said in a statement.
“According to its results, the identities of all 10 deceased have been established, and they correspond to the list published in the flight manifest.”
Several senior members of Wagner, a Russian mercenary organization founded by Prigozhin and engaged in military operations in the Ukraine, Syria, and parts of Africa, are among the dead.
They included Dmitry Utkin, Wagner’s military operations manager.
Members of Wagner Valery Chekalov, Sergei Propustin, Yevgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, and Nikolay Matuseyev were also on the Embraer Legacy aircraft that was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
In addition to the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft, Alexei Levshin and Rustam Karimov, Kristina Raspopova served as the sole flight attendant.
The crash came two months after Prigozhin led a Wagner mutiny against the Russian armed forces, seizing the southern city of Rostov and threatening to march on Moscow.
After a deal was reached that resulted in the relocation of the Prigozhin and Wagner fighters to Belarus, the standoff was ended.
There have been rumors that Russian security forces were somehow connected to the crash, as Russian President Vladimir Putin described the mutiny as a “stab in the back.”
The Pentagon confirmed that Prigozhin was likely killed, and US officials were quoted by CBS as saying that an explosion inside the aircraft was the most likely cause of the crash.
Rumors of foul play, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday, are an “absolute lie.”
Mr. Putin has sent his condolences to the victims’ families.
He described Prigozhin as a “talented person” who “made serious mistakes in life”.
Source-BBC
