Plane Carrying Wagner's Leader Prigozhin Crashed

On Wednesday, a private Embraer plane crashed in Russia's Tver region with ten passengers on board, as reported by the Rossaviatsia civil aviation agency.

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"An investigation has been opened into the Embraer plane disaster that occurred this afternoon in the Tver region. According to the list of passengers, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin," Rossaviatsia said. 

"All those on board have died," the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said, confirming that the incident took place near the town of Kuzhenkino and that only 3 out of 10 people on board were crew members.

The plane crashed less than 200 kilometers from Moscow, when it was making a flight from Saint Petersburg to the Russian capital. Emergency personnel have traveled to the area of the accident to begin the search for possible injuries.

Meanwhile, Tver Governor Igor Rudenia assumed personal control of the investigation into what happened to the civilian plane.

In June, the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, 62, led a failed military rebellion against the Kremlin in which Wagner's soldiers came to take one of the most important cities in southern Russia, Rostov-on-Don.

After the mediation of the Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to withdraw his mercenaries and transfer his base to the territory of that former Soviet republic.

After accusing him of treason, Russian President Vladimir Putin received him in the Kremlin, after which Prigozhin announced the restart of Wagner's operations in Africa.

On Monday, Prigozhin appeared for the first time since the riot on a video, in which he suggested that he had returned to Africa to make Russia "even bigger on all continents."

"The Wagner Group makes Russia even bigger on all continents and Africa even freer," Prigozhin said in the recording broadcast on Telegram channels.