Russia confirms death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who rebelled against Putin

Prigozhin made his name as the profane and brutal mercenary boss who mounted an armed rebellion that was the most severe and shocking challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group. (Photo | AP) 

MOSCOW: Russia’s Investigative Committee has confirmed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.

The committee said in a statement Sunday that after forensic testing, all 10 bodies recovered at the site of the crash were identified, and their identities “conform to the manifest.”

Russia’s civil aviation authority earlier this week said Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, was presumed dead Wednesday after a plane crash north of Moscow that killed all 10 people on board.

Prigozhin was on the plane, according to Russia's civil aviation agency, which cited the airline. The crash immediately raised suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny.

The plane carrying three crew members and seven passengers that was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg went down almost 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the capital, according to officials cited by Russia's state news agency Tass.