Russia Confirms Death of Wagner Group Boss Prigozhin via Genetic Test

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Yevgeny Prigozhin. (Wikimedia Commons/Government of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Russian investigators said on Sunday genetic tests had confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary group Wagner Group, was among the 10 people killed in a plane crash last week.

Russia's aviation agency had previously published the names of 10 people who were on board the private jet, which crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow last Wednesday. They included Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped found the Wagner group.

"As part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular genetic examinations have been completed," the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

Based on the results of the investigation, the identities of the 10 people who died were known. They match the list listed on the flight sheet, he said.

There has been some speculation, particularly on pro-Wagner Telegram channels, as to whether Prigozhin was actually on the flight that crashed.

Authorities have also not said what they believe caused the private jet to crash.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency reported that apart from the three crew members on board, those on board included Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin, Valeriy Chekalov, Sergei Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin and Nikolai Matuseev.

The crash came two months after Prigozhin and Wagner's mercenaries launched a mutiny against Russian military commanders, took the southern city of Rostov and advanced towards Moscow before turning back 200 km (125 miles) from the capital.

Last Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusations that he was behind Prigozhin's death were lies.