Plane Reportedly Carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin Crashes in Russia

A plane reportedly carrying Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, Russia's emergencies ministry said Wednesday. 

According to the ministry, eight bodies were recovered from the crash site of the private Embraer Legacy jet, which landed near the village of Kuzhenkino. Authorities had earlier said that ten people in total were on board the aircraft.

Russia’s state aviation agency Rosaviatsia said an individual with Prigozhin's name was one of the people on board, the state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Prigozhin's condition and whereabouts remain unknown.

Tver region Governor Igor Rudenya has taken “personal control” over the response to the plane crash, his press service told state media, adding that the plane was a civil aircraft.

The Wagner-affiliated Grey Zone Telegram channel claimed the plane had been shot down by the Russian military’s air defense systems, but this information could not be verified.

A Russian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Moscow Times that they believe neither the fact of the crash nor its location were a coincidence.  

"Not far from the president's residence in Valdai, there are four divisions of S-300 PMU1s [missile defense systems] guarding the sky," the source said. "On June 24 — a march on Moscow. And on August 24 — two missiles. It all adds up."

"Look how it was falling — it was shot down just like that. The plane just fell out of the sky," the source added.

Independent journalist Andrei Zakharov, citing an unnamed source, said Prigozhin on Wednesday was returning to Russia from a trip in Africa, where Wagner mercenaries have operated for years and where Prigozhin was recently filmed for a recruitment video. 

“It would be a miracle if he’s on another plane,” the source said.

According to the St. Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka, another Embraer jet believed to belong to Prigozhin landed at Moscow's Ostafyevo Business Airport. It is unclear whether Prigozhin was onboard.

Prigozhin’s press secretary declined to comment on the incident, Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak reported.

In June, a mutiny led by Prigozhin plunged Russia into its most serious security crisis in decades. The Wagner chief eventually abandoned his march on Moscow, where he sought to overthrow the country's military leadership, as part of a last-ditch deal that offered him immunity from criminal prosecution.

On Tuesday, Prigozhin appeared on video recruiting new fighters for deployment in Africa, however, the exact location of where the video was filmed was unknown.

This story is being updated.