{"id":20684,"date":"2023-08-24T11:01:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T11:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials"},"modified":"2023-08-24T11:44:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T11:44:19","slug":"wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials","title":{"rendered":"Wagner chief Prigozhin presumed dead in plane crash: Russian officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which in June attempted to topple Russia’s military leadership, was on board a plane that crashed on Wednesday, with all passengers killed, Russian officials said.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin and the defence ministry were yet to react.<\/p>\n

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived rebellion was seen as the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority since he came to power.<\/p>\n

Since then, uncertainty has surrounded the fate of Wagner and its controversial chief.<\/p>\n

Russia’s ministry for emergency situations on Wednesday announced the crash of a private plane travelling between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.<\/p>\n

According to preliminary information, all 10 people on board died, including three crew members, the ministry said.<\/p>\n

Russia’s aviation agency later said the Wagner chief was on board the plane.<\/p>\n

“According to the airline, the following passengers were on board the Embraer-135 (EBM-135BJ) aircraft:… Prigozhin, Yevgeny,” said Rosaviatsia, which also listed Dmitry Utkin, a shadowy figure who managed Wagner’s operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.<\/p>\n

Telegram channels linked to Wagner posted footage — that AFP could not independently confirm — showing the wreckage of the plane burning in a field.<\/p>\n

Russian law enforcement officials were standing guard at the crash site near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region early on Thursday, AFP images showed.<\/p>\n

In Saint Petersburg, people laid flowers and patches bearing the Wagner skull logo at a makeshift memorial outside the private mercenary group’s headquarters, AFP journalists said.<\/p>\n

“Guys, we just have no words right now,” said a masked man and alleged members of Wagner at the site.<\/p>\n

“Let’s support Yevgeny Viktorovich (Prigozhin) and all our commanders. We need your support now.”<\/p>\n

Rosaviatsia said it set up a special commission to investigate the crash of the aircraft belonging to MNT-Aero.<\/p>\n

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said it opened an investigation into the crash.<\/p>\n

The bodies of eight people have been found so far at the site of the crash, RIA Novosti said citing the emergency services.<\/p>\n

Putin was meanwhile giving a speech for the 80th anniversary of the Kursk battle in World War II.<\/p>\n

He did not mention the crash and hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in the special military operation in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But Kyiv and Washington reacted swiftly to initial reports of the crash.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” United States President Joe Biden said.<\/p>\n

“There’s not much that happens in Russia that (President) Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which in June attempted to topple Russia’s military leadership, was on board a plane that crashed on Wednesday, with all passengers killed, Russian officials said. The Kremlin and the defence ministry were yet to react. Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived rebellion was seen as the biggest challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[242,243,233,1877,3026,1878],"class_list":["post-20684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea","tag-wagner","tag-wagner-crises","tag-yevgeny-prigozhin"],"yoast_head":"\nWagner chief Prigozhin presumed dead in plane crash: Russian officials - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which in June attempted to topple Russia's military leadership, was on board a p ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wagner chief Prigozhin presumed dead in plane crash: Russian officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which in June attempted to topple Russia's military leadership, was on board a p ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T11:01:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T11:44:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/08\/sm_1692861223.46455.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Wagner chief Prigozhin presumed dead in plane crash: Russian officials\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-24T11:01:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-24T11:44:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\"},\"wordCount\":459,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/08\/sm_1692861223.46455.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\",\"Wagner\",\"wagner crises\",\"Yevgeny Prigozhin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/wagner-chief-prigozhin-presumed-dead-in-plane-crash-russian-officials\",\"name\":\"Wagner chief Prigozhin presumed dead in plane crash: Russian officials - 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