Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a failed military revolt in Russia, is presumed dead after a fatal plane crash with no survivors.
The outspoken mercenary boss was on the passenger list of the doomed flight that hit the ground north of Moscow, raising fears among his allies that he has been killed.
But it has not been confirmed whether he boarded the private business jet which was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg.
The plane was carrying seven passengers and three crew, and all 10 people were killed.
Wagner group commander Dmitry Utkin was also on board.
The Embraer aircraft crashed north-west of Moscow in the western Tver region.
Its transponders reportedly stopped transmitting data at 6.11pm local time after reaching an altitude of 26,000 feet.
Footage shows the plane plummeting from the sky in an almost-vertical freefall, leaving a trail of smoke.
UPDATE: There are reports that the head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the business plane that crashed today in Russia.
10 people are reportedly dead. It belonged to Prigozhin and Russian media is reporting that he was on the plane.
Wagner sources claim that… pic.twitter.com/RJZWhn1mcF
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) August 23, 2023
The Reuters News Agency has also published a photo of plane wreckage on the ground on fire and billowing black smoke.
All ten bodies have been found but are badly burnt and have not been formally identified.
US President Joe Biden was being briefed on the incident.
US national security spokesperson Adrienne Watson said “no-one should be surprised,” by the possible death of Prigozhin given his falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin, 62, was considered a dead man walking after spearheading a mutiny against Russia’s top army brass only two months ago on June 23-24.
Mr Putin said the revolt could have tipped Russia into civil war.
The mutiny was ended by negotiations and an apparent Kremlin deal in which Prigozhin, who had once been close to Mr Putin, agreed to relocate to neighbouring Belarus.
Prigozhin had been rarely seen in public since the failed coup but this week posted a video address which he suggested was filmed in Africa.
Photo: Getty
Russia’s state aviation authority Rosaviation said the crash was being investigated.
“The Commission of the Federal Air Transport Agency is starting initial actions at the scene of the accident, and has also begun collecting factual materials on the training of the crew, the technical condition of the aircraft, the meteorological situation on the flight route, the work of dispatch services and ground radio equipment,” the agency said in a statement.
“At this stage of the investigation, specialists will also have to search for on-board means of objective control for their subsequent decoding and analysis of the records of the black box.”
