Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is presumed to have been killed in a plane crash north of Moscow, alongside his right-hand-man Dmitry Utkin and eight others.
The aircraft, owned by Prigozhin, had seven passengers and three crew on board when it crashed in the Tver region. All 10 bodies have been recovered, reports say.
UK defence sources say that Russia’s FSB domestic intelligence agency (the successors to the KGB) are those most likely to have targeted Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane.
The Kremlin has not commented on Prigozhin’s death. Putin, who has been speaking at the Brics summit in South Africa, stuck to the script and mentioned nothing about the crash.
Wagner members and supporters across Russia are paying tribute to Prigozhin, laying flowers at temporary shrines to the Wagner chief.
Meanwhile, Wagner fighters and supporters have been paying tribute to Yevgeny Prigozhin at makeshift memorials in Russia.
Candles have been lit and flowers laid next to photos of the mercenary leader outside Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
Source: BBC
