Moscow: Russia’s Investigative Committee on Sunday confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary force Wagner who led a short-lived armed rebellion against Russia’s military and the authority of President Vladimir Putin, was killed in a plane crash, reported AP.
According to a statement issued by Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, forensic and genetic testing identified all 10 bodies recovered from the site of the August 23 crash and the findings “conform to the manifest” of the plane.
However, there was no mention of what might have caused the crash.
The 62-year-old Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants were believed to be on the list of passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated plane.
All seven passengers and three crew died when the plane plummeted from the sky halfway between Moscow and Prigozhin’s home town St Petersburg.
Prigozhin had attempted a daylong mutiny against Russia’s military two months ago, leading his mercenaries from Ukraine towards Moscow. President Putin decried the act as “treason” and vowed punishment for those involved.
Kremlin then cut a deal with Prigozhin, with help from Belarus, to end the armed revolt, saying he would be allowed to walk free without facing any charges and to resettle in Belarus.
But questions remained about whether Prigozhin would be allowed to go scot free for the brief uprising that easily posed the biggest challenge to Putin’s authority of his 23-year rule.
A US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash.
The world suspected that Putin had plotted the assassination of his one-time aide, but Moscow rejected that theory as a “complete lie.”
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