Four days after a private plane crashed in Russia, the death of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was confirmed by DNA tests, according to Russian investigators. The Russian investigative committee said on Sunday that all 10 people who died in Wednesday’s crash had been identified as part of genetic testing. These are the people named on the flight’s passenger list.
“Molecular genetic testing as part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver region has been completed,” said Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for the investigative committee responsible for serious crimes. From these results, “the identities of all ten victims were established, which correspond to the list in the flight list”. Prigozhin was on the list, but so was his deputy, Dmitry Utkin. The investigative committee initially did not provide further information.
There are no details about the cause of the accident.
The Embraer Legacy plane crashed on Wednesday night. An investigation into the “violation of air traffic safety regulations” has been launched, but details on the possible cause of the crash have not yet been provided.
Since the accident, there has been speculation that it could have been an attack on Wagner’s boss. The Kremlin has dismissed any allegations of involvement in the case as “an absolute lie”.
Exactly two months before the plane crash, Prigozhin had his mercenaries march towards Moscow in an uprising. According to Prigozhin, the aim was to overthrow the leadership of the Russian army and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. After a day, however, Wagner’s boss called off the uprising, in exchange for which he was guaranteed impunity.
In Ukraine and in the West, it is suspected that the Kremlin wanted to eliminate the disgraced Prigozhin. Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind Prigozhin’s alleged death. The plane crash was “a very crude and unprofessional job” for which Putin was blamed.
Putin called Prigozhin a traitor
Putin himself, who called Prigozhin a traitor over the armed rebellion two months ago, spoke about the mercenary leader in the past on Thursday night. This was a “capable” man who made “grave mistakes”. Until the brief rebellion, the Wagner group had played an important role in the Russian offensive against Ukraine – most notably in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.
(Source: APA)