What happened to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane

Rosaviatsia at 23.00 published a list of passengers who were supposed to be on board the Embraer-135 aircraft. Among them are the founder of Wagner PMC Evgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin. In total, the message lists 10 people, three of which are crew members. The flight was carried out on the basis of a permit issued in the prescribed manner, clarified in the Federal Air Transport Agency.

The first reports of the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600 business jet with tail number RA-02795 near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver Region, began to appear on Telegram channels around 19.25–19.30 Moscow time. A little more than 20 minutes later, the fact of the disaster was confirmed by the Russian Emergencies Ministry. “There were 10 people on board, including three crew members. According to preliminary information, all on board died, ”the agency said in its Telegram channel.

The fact that Prigozhin was among the passengers on the plane flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg was reported by TASS with reference to the Federal Air Transport Agency at 20.01 Moscow time. Vedomosti was told by a representative of the department that he did not have “consolidated information” on this matter. The governor of the Tver region, Igor Rudenya, at 20.15 announced that he had taken personal control of the incident with the plane crash. He declined to comment to Vedomosti.

By the time the issue was signed for publication, law enforcement agencies and other authorized persons were not talking about Prigozhin’s death. But a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, Vladimir Rogov, who represents the Zaporozhye region there, wrote at 21.20 Moscow time: “I just talked with outstanding “musicians” (that is, representatives of Wagner. – Vedomosti). They confirm the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin.”

State Duma deputy from United Russia, TV presenter Yevgeny Popov wrote that “this is a terrorist attack in the Russian sky”: “It must be investigated.” According to Vedomosti, law enforcement agencies may consider just such a version of what happened.

However, at 21.11 Moscow time, the Investigative Committee (IC) reported that the Main Investigation Department had opened a case on the grounds of a crime under Art. 263 of the Criminal Code (violation of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport). “An investigation team has left for the scene, all the necessary forensic examinations will be appointed,” the press service of the Investigative Committee reported.

Prigozhin was born in 1961. In the 1990s. was engaged in the restaurant business, in the 2000s – catering. The Concord company, among other things, received state orders for baby food and food for military personnel. In the late 2000s also founded a number of media, including the Federal News Agency, Narodnye Novosti, Ekonomika Segodnya, Nevskiye Novosti, which were merged into the Patriot media group.

Since 2016, he has been under US sanctions, since 2020 – by the EU, Australia, Canada, Great Britain in connection with the activities of Wagner PMC in Africa and the Middle East. Since 2022, Wagner PMC has been participating in hostilities in Ukraine, in particular, its forces, together with army units, have occupied the cities of Popasnaya, Soledar, and, after more than 200 days of fighting, Bakhmut (Artemovsk).

On the night of June 24, Prigozhin, with a group of fighters, attempted an armed rebellion. In a special address this morning, President Vladimir Putin called “actions that split our unity” an apostasy from the people, from comrades-in-arms who are fighting at the front: “This is a stab in the back to our country and our people.” After agreements mediated by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, on the evening of June 24, Prigozhin stopped the rebellion.