Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was reportedly killed in a plane crash with no survivors – as it happened | Ukraine
Embraer crash: What we know so far
Here’s what we know so far about the crash that Russian aviation authorities say killed Prigozhin and nine others:
-
The plane was en route from Moscow to St Petersburg with seven passengers and three crew members on board.
-
The Russian Aviation Authority confirmed that the Russian mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin and the commander-in-chief of Wagner Dmitry Utkin were on board the stricken Embraer.
-
The Russian Emergencies Ministry stated that all 10 people on board were killed.
-
The other five passengers were have been identified Such as: Sergey Propostin, Evgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, Valery Chekalov, Dmitry Utkin, Nikolai Matusev and Prigozhin.
-
The crew members have been identified as Commander Alexei Levchin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov, and stewardess Kristina Raspopova.
-
The plane came down about 300 kilometers north of Moscow, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
-
The Russian Investigative Committee opened an investigation into the accident for violating air safety rules.
-
The incident comes two months after Prigozhin’s failed rebellion against the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
-
US President Joe Biden was informed of the incident, and said he was “not surprised” by the news of Prigozhin’s death.
main events
We are closing this live blog now, and we will start our live coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the killing of Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a few hours. In the meantime, you can read our main story on the incident here:
summary
Here’s what we know about the plane said to be carrying Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed, killing all on board:
-
The Russian Aviation Authority confirmed that the head of the Russian mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner division commander Dmitry Utkin were on board the Embraer that crashed en route from Moscow to St Petersburg. Petersburg It was carrying seven passengers and three crew members. The incident comes two months after Prigozhin’s failed rebellion against the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
-
All 10 people on board died. According to what was reported by the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
-
The other five passengers were have been identified Such as: Sergey Propostin, Evgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, Valery Chekalov, Dmitry Utkin, Nikolai Matusev and Prigozhin.
-
The crew members have been identified as Commander Alexei Levchin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov, and stewardess Kristina Raspopova.
-
The plane fell at a distance of about 300 km (186 miles) north of Moscow, According to the official Russian news agency TASS.
-
The Russian Investigative Committee opened an investigation into the incident accused of violating air safety rules.
-
US President Joe Biden was informed of the incident and said he was ‘not surprised’ Upon the news of Prigozhin’s death.
-
A building housing Wagner’s offices in St. Petersburg lit up its windows after dark in such a way as to show a giant cross. In a sign of respect and mourning. Flowers were left and candles lit near the offices early Thursday.
-
The plane showed no sign of trouble until it fell hard in the last 30 seconds, according to flight tracking data.
-
The Embraer executive jet model that crashed has only recorded one accident in its more than 20 years of service, and that was due to errors made by the crew rather than mechanical failure. According to the International Aviation Headquarters website. Russia’s Tass news agency said the plane was a Brazilian Embraer.
-
Embraer declined to comment on Wednesday, saying only that “Embraer has complied with international sanctions against Russia.” The sanctions prevent Western aircraft manufacturers from providing spare parts or support for aircraft operating in Russia.
The Wagner Building lit up like a cross
Reuters reported that a building housing Wagner’s offices in St. Petersburg lit up its windows after dark in a way that showed a giant cross in a sign of respect and mourning.
Flowers were left and candles lit near the offices early Thursday:
More on the plane’s final moments via Reuters:
Online flight-tracking website Flightradar24 last recorded the plane’s location at 3:11pm GMT, before the crash. Noise or interference in the area may have slowed the collection of more location data.
Other statements lasted for nine minutes. Flightradar24 said the plane made a series of ascents and descents of a few thousand feet each over a 30-second period before its final, catastrophic descent. Flightradar24 received its final data on the aircraft at 3.20pm.
The plane looked good on the radar until the last 30 seconds – Reuters
Helen Sullivan is back with you now. Reuters reported that the plane believed to have been carrying Prigozhin to his death on Wednesday showed no sign of trouble until it descended hard in the last 30 seconds, according to flight tracking data.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said the plane was traveling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kozkino in the Tver region.
Ian Pechenick of Flightradar24 said that at 3.19pm GMT, the plane made a “sudden vertical downward slide”. In about 30 seconds, the plane descended more than 8,000 feet from the cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.
“Everything that happened happened quickly,” Pechenik said.
“Maybe they were grappling (with the plane) after what happened,” Pechenik said. But prior to its dramatic descent, “there was no indication that anything was wrong with this plane.”
A video clip showed the plane descending quickly with its nose heading straight down and behind it a column of smoke or steam.
More backlash, this time from Bill Browder, the American-born financier who bashed Putin after corrupt Russian officials hijacked his hedge fund for a massive tax fraud.
Putin never forgives and never forgets. He looked like an insulted weakling as Prigozhin was running around without any care in the world. This would consolidate his power and is standard operating procedure for Putin https://t.co/NiOlrpIr9T
– Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) August 23, 2023
More photos from the scene have also emerged:
The cables sent a few photos from outside the former PMC Wagner Center in St. Petersburg, where people were laying flowers and lighting candles.
And some of British MP Alicia CairnsChairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee:
The speed with which the Russian government confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the plane that crashed during a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg should tell us all we need to know.
Reports that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense indicate that Putin is sending a very loud message.
– Alicia Cairns MP (@aliciakearns) August 23, 2023
For Putin there is only one unforgivable sin: the betrayal of Putin and Russia.
He hunts down those he considers traitors, including on British shores, such as Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal.
And now Yevgeny Prigozhin has been added to that list, ending Putin’s humiliation.
– Alicia Cairns MP (@aliciakearns) August 23, 2023
Some feedback from Polandwhere Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau He told the state news channel TVP Info:
We would have a hard time naming anyone who intuitively believed this was a fluke. And it so happens that political opponents whom Vladimir Putin considers a threat to his power do not die naturally.
As many have pointed out, Prigozhin will not be Vladimir Putin’s early enemy number one. Reuters compiled this list of mysterious deaths and apparent attacks on critics of the Russian president:
Alexei Navalny: Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was flown to Germany in August 2020 for medical treatment after being poisoned in Siberia with what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok. Russia denied any involvement. Navalny won worldwide admiration for his voluntary return to Russia in 2021. He was arrested upon his arrival.
Sergei Skripal: The former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in the English cathedral city of Salisbury in March 2018.
They were taken to hospital in critical condition, and British officials said they were poisoned with Novichok, a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Both survived.
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza said he believes attempts were made to poison him in 2015 and 2017. A German laboratory later found elevated levels of mercury, copper, manganese and zinc, according to medical reports. Seen by Reuters. Moscow denied involvement.
Alexander Litvinenko: Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and outspoken critic of Putin, died in 2006 at the age of 43, after drinking green tea laced with polonium-210, a rare and powerful radioactive isotope, at London’s Millennium Hotel, he said. British officials. Putin may have approved the killing, a British investigation concluded in 2016. The Kremlin has denied involvement.
Alexander Perepilichny: The 44-year-old Russian was found dead near his luxury home in an exclusive gated estate outside London after going jogging in November 2012. Alexander Perepilichny took refuge in Britain in 2009 after assisting in a Swiss investigation into Rossi. Money laundering scheme. His sudden death has raised suggestions that he may have been murdered. Russia denied involvement.
Viktor Yushchenko: Viktor Yushchenko, then Ukraine’s opposition leader, was poisoned during the 2004 presidential election campaign when he ran on a pro-Western ticket against pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
He said he was poisoned while having dinner outside Kiev with officials from Ukraine’s security services. Russia denied any involvement. His corpse was found to contain 1,000 times more dioxin than what is normally found. His face and body were disfigured due to the poisoning, and he underwent dozens of operations in the aftermath.
Anna Politkovskaya: A journalist who was reporting on human rights violations, was shot dead outside her apartment in Moscow on 7 October 2006, after returning home from the supermarket.
