It is “highly likely” that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group who challenged the Kremlin in a failed mutiny is dead, the UK Government has said.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) cautioned that there is “not yet definitive proof” that Yevgeny Prigozhin was onboard a plane that crashed between Moscow and St Petersburg on Wednesday, but concluded his presumed demise is credible.
Russian authorities said the private jet was carrying the Wagner chief and some of his top lieutenants and everyone on board was killed when it went down.
There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures. However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead
In its daily intelligence update on Friday, the MoD said: “On 23 August 2023, exactly two months after the Wagner Group’s mutiny, a Wagner-associated Embraer business jet crashed near Tver, between Moscow and St Petersburg.
“The Russian authorities claim 10 people on board died, including Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures.
“However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead.”
His death “would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect” on his private military, with the reported deaths of Wagner’s second-in-command and logistics chief compounding a “leadership vacuum”, the MoD said on Twitter, now known as X.