Mr Putin described Yevgeny Prigozhin as ‘a man of difficult fate’ who had ‘made serious mistakes in life’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the families of those in the crash
If the deaths are confirmed, the crash would be the most serious blow the group has ever suffered to its leadership.The passenger manifest included Mr Prigozhin and his second-in-command who baptised the group with his nom de guerre, as well as Wagner’s logistics chief, a fighter wounded by US air strikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard.
Mr Putin broke his silence on the crash, expressing condolences to the families of those who were aboard the jet, including Mr Prigozhin.“We remember this, we know, and we will not forget,” the president said in a televised interview with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin.
Mr Prigozhin’s supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed, including suggesting it could have been hit by a missile or targeted by a bomb on board. Those claims could not be independently verified. “It is no coincidence that the whole world immediately looks at the Kremlin when a disgraced ex-confidant of Putin suddenly falls from the sky, two months after he attempted an uprising,” said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, while acknowledging that the facts were still unclear.
According to the civil aviation authority, the flight manifest included Dmitry Utkin, who was long believed to be the founder of Wagner. Mr Utkin’s call sign was Wagner, which became the company’s name. He was a retired special forces officer and a member of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service and was responsible for Wagner command and combat training, according to investigations by the Dossier Centre and Bellingcat.
But Mr Prigozhin’s brief revolt raised the ante. His mercenaries swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot. They then drove to within about 125 miles of Moscow and downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen Russian pilots.Mr Putin first denounced the rebellion — the most serious challenge to his 23-year rule — as “treason” and a “stab in the back”.
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