Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner company, was listed as a passenger on the plane that crashed and killed everyone on board, according to the Russian Civil Aviation authorities.
The Embraer aircraft was reportedly shot down by air defenses in the Tver region, north of Moscow, according to the Telegram channel Grey Zone with connections to Wagner.
Seven passengers and three staff members were on board the private aircraft, which was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In June, Prigozhin was the leader of a failed uprising against the Russian military.
According to Grey Zone, there were two explosions and two vapour trails heard by nearby residents before to the accident.
According to a different news source, Prigozhin’s Embraer Legacy caught fire as soon as it touched down.
Emergency personnel are searching the scene while an investigation into the collision is underway.
The 62-year old mercenary chief led the revolt on June 23 and 24, pulling his soldiers out of Ukraine, taking control of Rostov on Don in Southern Russia, and threatening to march on Moscow after months of conflict over the crisis in Ukraine
A deal that allowed Wagner troops to transfer to Belarus or enlist in the Russianarmy ended the standoff.
However, Prigozhin has appeared in public in Russia and released a video of himself ostensibly in Africa, suggesting that he has been allowed to travel around freely despite having personally promised to relocate to Belarus.
