The Wagner Group confirmed on Wednesday evening that Yevgeny Prigozhin and his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, were flying on the plane that crashed during the afternoon. However, there is no clear information about what happened to the plane: some say it was shot down by Russian air defense, others say it was a terrorist attack. Wagner's staff became its victim.
The leaders of the Wagner Group confirmed in a short statement issued at 9:30 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday that the Wagner leaders were on the plane that crashed in the Tver region of Russia. Shortly afterwards, their bodies were also identified.
The Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that the bodies found at the scene were badly burned, which is why some of them will only be identified after longer investigations. As they wrote, one of the bodies was found without a head.
The flight took off from Sheremetyevo at 17:54 Moscow time. It was on its way to Pulkovo, but disappeared from the radar 26 minutes after departure.
The Federal Aviation Agency established a special committee to investigate the circumstances and causes of the accident. The FSB has also launched an investigation.
The plane was flying on the Moscow-Saint Petersburg route, with seven passengers and three crew members on board, no one survived the incident.
According to press information, the private plane of the mercenary leader may have been shot down by the Russian air defense. According to footage circulating on social media, the plane crashed before exploding and burning up on the ground. According to Flightradar data, the plane rose to a height of 8,800 meters near Moscow, then suddenly began to fall and hit the ground.
Rumors spreading on social media base the claim that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense on the holes visible in the wreckage. However, there are also opinions that a terrorist attack took place, which can be blamed on the Ukrainians, or even the Poles, or some Western secret service.
However, Australia's News.com.au has come up with a new piece of information. They write, referring to insider information, that explosives were probably smuggled on board, which went off, causing the loss of the vehicle and its passengers. They found that there were no shrapnel marks on the footage of the wreckage, and they believe that a bomb placed in a wine box exploded.
They also wrote that the ominous crate was smuggled on board at the last minute, after security checks.
