Genetic tests conducted by Russian investigators on Sunday have definitively verified that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was among the ten individuals who were killed in a plane crash last Wednesday, August 23.
Previously, Russia’s aviation agency had publicly disclosed the identities of all ten individuals aboard the private jet, which crashed in the Tver region to the northwest of Moscow. Among those on board were Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his trusted associate who played a pivotal role in establishing the Wagner group.
The private jet’s crash occurred exactly two months after Prigozhin spearheaded a failed mutiny against the upper echelons of Russia’s armed forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the mutiny as a treacherous “stab in the back.” However, subsequent to this incident, Putin held a meeting with Prigozhin at the Kremlin. In response to the crash, Putin extended his heartfelt condolences on Thursday to the families of those individuals, as confirmed by the aviation agency’s list of casualties.
