The details of the crash are still emerging but here is what we know so far.
-Igbere TV reports
1. Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is dead, having been named on the passenger list of a private jet that crashed north of the Russian capital, Moscow.
2. Russian aviation officials confirmed the aircraft, an Embraer Legacy, had been flying between Moscow and St Petersburg when it crashed in the Tver region, north of Moscow on Wednesday evening.
3. But Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported the jet had been shot down by the Russian military – although it provided no evidence to support its claim.
4. The private jet was carrying seven passengers and three crew. According to preliminary information, all 10 people on board were killed. All the bodies are said to have been recovered.
5. The Embraer Legacy – registered to one of Prigozhin’s companies – caught fire on hitting the ground having reportedly been in the air for less than half an hour.
6. Video footage verified by the BBC showed an aircraft falling from the sky in Kuzhenkino, Russia. Grey Zone reports that a second business jet owned by Prigozhin landed safely in the Moscow region.
7. Russia’s aviation agency identified the seven passengers as: Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, Sergei Propustin, Yevgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, Valery Chekalov and Nikolai Matuseyev.
8. The crew members were identified as Captain Alexei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova.
9. According to Russia’s investigative committee, a criminal investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash under Article 263 of Russia’s criminal code, which governs traffic safety and the operation of air transport.
10. Meanwhile, emergency services have finished their search of the site.
The governor of the Tver region, Igor Rudenya, has reportedly taken control of the investigation.
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