Plane believed to be carrying Wagner’s Prigozhin crashes in Russia, state media says

Author: Editors Desk Source: The Washington Post

August 23, 2023 at 13:39

Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russian private mercenary group Wagner, gives an address at an unknown location, in this still image taken from video possibly shot in Africa, on Monday. PMC Wagner/Reuters

At least 10 people died in the crash of a Wagner-linked private plane outside Moscow, according to Russia’s emergency services. Yevgeniy Prighozin, who led a failed mutiny in June, was on the plane’s manifest, according to a state-run outlet.

At least 10 people died in the crash of a Wagner-linked private plane outside Moscow, according to Russia’s emergency services. Prighozin, who led a failed mutiny in June, was on the plane’s manifest, according to state-run outlet RIA, citing the country’s aviation authority.

Prigozhin had largely disappeared from the public eye after leading the short-lived rebellion, which saw his mercenary fighters briefly occupy a military headquarters in southern Russia and march on the capital, shocking President Vladimir Putin and the country’s military leadership. Under a deal brokered with Putin by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to call off the mutiny in exchange for pardons and the ability to relocate his fighters to Belarus.

Since then, Prigozhin has been spotted in his hometown of St. Petersburg attending a Russia-Africa summit, and in a blurry video shot in near-darkness that purported to show him instructing his troops in Belarus on how to conduct themselves on their new base in exile.