Wagner boss Prigozhin listed as a passenger on crashed jet which killed 10 people

The
chief
of
the
Wagner
Russian
mercenary
group,
Yevgeny
Prigozhin,
is
believed
to
have
been
killed
in
a
plane
crash,
Russian
state
media
reported
Wednesday.

The
aircraft,
a
business
jet,
crashed
in
the
Tver
region
northwest
of
Moscow,
leading
to
the
deaths
of
all
10
people
onboard,
according
to
Russian
authorities.

While
Russian
officials
said
that
Prigozhin
was
on
the
passenger
list,
it
was
not
immediately
clear
if
he
was
in
the
aircraft.

“An
investigation
of
the
Embraer
plane
crash
that
happened
in
the
Tver
Region
this
evening
was
initiated.
According
to
the
passenger
list,
first
and
last
name
of
Yevgeny
Prigozhin
was
included
in
this
list,”
Russia’s
Federal
Agency
for
Air
Transport
said
in
a
statement.

The
plane
was
flying
from
Sheremetyevo
International
Airport
in
Moscow
to
St.
Petersburg,
the
agency
said,
according
to
a
Google
translation.

The
Russian
Ministry
of
Emergency
Services
wrote
on
its
Telegram
account:
“In
the
Tver
region,
near
the
village
of
Kuzhenkino,
a
private
Embraer
Legacy
aircraft
crashed
while
flying
from
Moscow
to
St.
Petersburg.
There
were
10
people
on
board,
including
3
crew
members.”

“According
to
preliminary
information,
all
on
board
were
killed.
EMERCOM
of
Russia
is
conducting
search
operations,”
the
post
read,
according
to
a
Google
translation.

U.S.
President

Joe
Biden
has
been
briefed
on
the
situation,
a
White
House
spokesperson
told
NBC.

National
Security
Council
spokesperson
Adrienne
Watson
said
that,
if
confirmed,
Prigozhin’s
death
should
come
as
no
surprise.

“We
have
seen
the
reports.
If
confirmed,
no
one
should
be
surprised,”
Watson
said.
“The
disastrous
war
in
Ukraine
led
to
a
private
army
marching
on
Moscow,
and
now
—
it
would
seem
—
to
this.”

U.S.
Secretary
of
State
Antony
Blinken
also
commented
on
the
developing
situation.

“The
fact
that
Prigozhin
made
a
direct
challenge
to
Putin’s
authority,
the
fact
that
he
questioned
publicly
the
very
premises
that
Putin
has
advanced
for
the
aggression
against
Ukraine
–
that’s
playing
out
and
will
continue
to
play
out,”
Blinken
told
MSNBC’s
Andrea
Mitchell
on
Wednesday
when
asked
about
the
incident.

“We’ve
seen
the
ongoing
drama,
too,
of
where
is
Prigozhin,
what
is
the
arrangement
with
Putin?”
he
added.
“If
I
were
Mr.
Prigozhin,
I
would
remain
very
concerned.
NATO
has
an
‘Open
Door’
policy;
Russia
has
an
open
windows
policy,
and
he
needs
to
be
very
focused
on
that.”

The
“open
windows
policy”
was
a
tongue-in-cheek
reference
to
the
fact
that
numerous
prominent
Russian
officials
and
businessmen
who
fell
out
of
favor
with
Putin
died
by
what
local
authorities
described
as
falling
out
of
windows
or
off
of
balconies.

Prigozhin effectively disappeared
from
public
life

after
the
failed
mutiny.
But
just
on
Monday,
Aug.
21,
the
mercenary
leader
appeared
in
a
video
published
by
Wagner-affiliated
channels
on
Telegram,
which suggested the
footage was
filmed
in
Africa. It was
believed
to
be
Prigozhin’s
first
video
address
since
the
coup
attempt.

In
the
clip,
the
Wagner
leader
is
holding
a
rifle
and
standing
against
a
desert
backdrop.
The
camera
briefly
pans
to
other
armed
men
in
a
pickup
truck.

“We
are
working.
The
temperature
is
plus
50
[Celsius].
Everything’s
the
way
we
like
it.
PMC
Wagner
is
conducting
reconnaissance,
making
Russia
even
greater
on
every
continent
–
and
Africa
even
freer,”
Prigozhin
said,
according
to
a
NBC
News
translation.

“Justice
and
happiness
for
the
African
nations,”
he
said.
“We
are
messing
with
ISIS,
Al-Qaeda
and
other
banditos.
We
hire
real
supermen
and
continue
working
on
tasks
that
were
set
to
us
and
we
promised
to
carry
out.”

NBC
News
was
not
able
to
verify
the
video’s
authenticity,
as
well
as
when
or
where
it
was
shot.

Wagner
has
operated
in
parts
of
Africa
including
Mali,
the
Central
African
Republic
and
Libya.