Russian investigators stated on Sunday that genetic assessments had confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group who led a short-lived armed revolt towards Russia’s navy, was among the many 10 folks killed in a aircraft crash final week.
Russia’s aviation company had beforehand printed the names of all 10 folks on board the private jet that crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow on Wednesday. They included Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped discovered the Wagner group, and Wagner logistics mastermind Valery Chekalov.
“As a part of the investigation of the aircraft crash within the Tver area, molecular-genetic examinations have been accomplished,” Russia’s Investigative Committee stated in a press release on the Telegram messaging app.
“In keeping with their outcomes, the identities of all 10 useless had been established. They correspond to the checklist said within the flight sheet,” it stated.
There had been some hypothesis, particularly on pro-Wagner Telegram channels, about whether or not Prigozhin — who was identified to take numerous safety precautions in anticipation of a attainable try on his life — had actually been on the doomed flight.
Authorities have but to say what they imagine brought about his non-public jet to fall from the sky.
Putin referred to as mutiny ‘stab within the again’
The crash got here two months to the day after Prigozhin, 62, and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny against Russian military commanders during which they took management of a southern metropolis, Rostov-on-Don, and superior towards Moscow earlier than turning round 200 kilometres from the capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the June 23-24 mutiny as a treacherous “stab within the again,” however later met with Prigozhin within the Kremlin.
He despatched his condolences on Thursday to the households of these believed to have died within the crash.
Western politicians and commentators have recommended, with out presenting proof, that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed as punishment for the mutiny, which additionally represented the largest problem to Putin’s personal rule since he got here to energy in 1999.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday that such suggestions were “an absolute lie.” Requested whether or not Putin may attend Prigozhin’s funeral, Peskov stated it was too early to say and in addition famous the president’s “busy schedule.”
Wagner fighters performed a distinguished position within the combating in Japanese Ukraine, particularly within the months-long siege of the town of Bakhmut, regardless of Prigozhin’s frequent, profanity-laced assaults on Russia’s navy excessive command over their conduct of the struggle that culminated within the failed mutiny.
The Kremlin has additionally used the Wagner Group as a instrument to increase Russia’s presence within the Center East and Africa.
The Wagner fighters have now left Ukraine and a few have relocated to neighbouring Belarus underneath the phrases of a deal that ended their mutiny.
Some are anticipated to be absorbed into Russia’s armed forces, however many might be offended over the sudden demise of the group’s founder who impressed a excessive diploma of loyalty amongst his males.
Putin paid a blended tribute to Prigozhin on Thursday, describing him as a “gifted businessman” but additionally as a flawed character who “made severe errors in life.”