Russian aviation authorities confirm Prigozhin's death... "Onboard the crashed private plane"

Russian authorities have confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary company Wagner Group, died in a private plane crash on the 23rd (local time).

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to major foreign media, Russian aviation authorities stated that Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin were on board the Wagner Group's private plane that crashed in the Tver region of western Russia.

Earlier, disaster authorities announced that preliminary investigations estimated all 10 people on board, including 3 crew members, had died. Shortly after, aviation authorities confirmed that Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but his actual presence on the flight had not been confirmed.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, on the same day, authorities revealed that Prigozhin was indeed on the crashed plane, effectively confirming his death. Dmitry Utkin, who also died in the accident, was known as a close associate who co-founded the Wagner Group with Prigozhin.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Earlier, Prigozhin had led an armed rebellion in June, demanding the ousting of the military leadership. However, he halted the rebellion on the condition that he would not be punished and would be allowed to go into exile in Belarus. Since then, he was seen traveling back and forth between Belarus and Russia several times. Meanwhile, U.S. officials, including CIA Director William Burns, had publicly warned that President Putin might retaliate against Prigozhin in some form soon.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.