Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin who led failed Russia mutiny believed dead after private jet crash

The warlord who led a mutiny against Vladimir Putin is believed dead after his private jet was downed near Moscow.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of the Wagner mercenary group, was said to be among eight killed when the aircraft exploded on impact amid claims it may have been hit by Russian air defences.

Everyone aboard, including three crew, were killed.

Footage on social media showed the blazing wreckage in a field.

There were also pictures of what appeared to be the smoke trails of two ground-to-air missiles.

A second plane belonging to Prigozhin was also spotted on flight radars above Moscow on Wednesday night.

It landed shortly after news of the crash emerged.

Shortly after the crash another theory behind the explosion on the plane emerged on Russian social media channels.

It was said that the plane may have been destroyed by a bomb disguised as a case of fine wine and carried on board moments before take-off.

The crash comes just weeks after Prigozhin led a dramatic mutiny against the Kremlin which threatened to plunge Russia into a civil war.

A furious Putin sentenced him to exile in Belarus.

Russian police raided his mansion and froze his financial assets.

Prigozhin, 62, disappeared from public view for several weeks, but was seen this week in a Wagner promotional video seemingly recorded in northern Africa.

Wagner is a Russian state-funded private military company with tens of thousands of troops.

The group has operated in Syria, across Africa and, most recently, in eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin’s soldiers, many of them convicts released from Russian jails, were involved in some of the heaviest fighting, including the siege of Bakhmut.

On Wednesday night, UK security officials pointed the finger at Putin, accusing the Russian president of assassinating his most dangerous political rival. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source said: “There is no surprise about what has happened. There are no accidents after an individual challenges Putin’s authority.

“He has eliminated his rivals and those who have spoken out against him before and, it appears, he has done so again.

“The question is, what happens now to the Wagner Group. Will it become Putin’s private army operating around the world?”

Security sources told the Mail that they expect the Kremlin to attribute the crash to a bomb placed on board the aircraft by Ukrainian special agents.

It is considered far more likely that Prigozhin’s jet was targeted by the Russian government using a surface- to-air missile.

The Wagner private jet, an Embraer 600 with the tail number RA-02795, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region.

The luxury aircraft was understood to have been travelling from the Russian capital to St Petersburg, Prigozhin’s home city.

A witness said there were two explosions before the aircraft plunged towards the ground, disintegrating on its descent.

Early reports suggested the crew may have turned off the aircraft’s transponder, an electronic device which allows the aircraft to be identified.

If so, ground controllers would have been unable to distinguish Prigozhin’s jet from a Ukrainian jet, a drone or a missile.

The Russian Civil Aviation Authority said Prigozhin and his deputy Dmitry Utkin were on board the plane which crashed.

But as a security measure to protect Prigozhin, several of his associates recently changed their name to his, so the crash victim named as Prigozhin may not be the Wagner chief.

Ken Giles, a senior consultant at the think-tank Chatham House said: “Until we know for certain that it is the right Prigozhin, let’s not be surprised if he pops up shortly in a new video.”

Since last year’s invasion of Ukraine, many opponents of the war, including prominent Russian businessmen, have died in mysterious circumstances.

Prigozhin was known as “Putin’s chef” after one of his companies secured a contract to cater for Russian armed forces.

Wagner was formed in 2014, with the cooperation of Russian intelligence services.

The mercenary group’s influence has since extended around the world, particularly in impoverished African states where Prigozhin would cosy up to unscrupulous political figures, offering them protection in return for natural resources such as diamonds.

On Wednesday night, experts linked Prigozhin’s death with the events of two months ago.

Orysia Lutsevych, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, said: “If Prigozhin is indeed dead, it is a logical development that follows a failed mutiny against the Kremlin.

“After the revolt that undermined Putin’s stronghold on power, it was only a question of time and the mode of Prigozhin’s elimination. Alive, he was always a threat and a reminder that Putin is weak. She added: ‘If remains to be seen if Prigozhin’s supporters just swallow that bitter pill or further grow their ranks.”

It was reported that Prigozhin joked that he could not be killed in an air crash due to the precautions he took.

Russian sources suggested he “sneered at death” appearing oblivious to the threat of assassination or of being killed on the frontline.

Alicia Kearns, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said on X (formerly Twitter): “The speed at which the Russian government has confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg should tell us everything we need to know. Reports Russian air defence shot down the plane suggests Putin is sending a very loud message.”

As speculation intensified that Putin may have ordered the attack, the Russian president spent yesterday at a Second World War commemoration ceremony.

Looking relaxed, he marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, a tank battle against the Germans.

Kursk is 280 miles southwest of the Russian capital and more than 300 miles from where Prizoghin’s plane crashed.