A private jet traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg met a tragic fate as it crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, according to reports from Russia’s aviation authority, Interfax.
The crash, which occurred late Wednesday, claimed the lives of all three pilots and seven passengers on board, as reported by the state-run Tass news service.
Among the passengers listed was Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group.
However, immediate confirmation of Prigozhin’s presence on the aircraft remains elusive. Sources close to the Kremlin couldn’t confirm his presence, citing Prigozhin’s known precautions, including the use of a second airplane.
The crash comes precisely two months after Prigozhin led a mutiny that posed a significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule.
Putin had denounced the June rebellion as “treason,” but Prigozhin managed to escape any retaliation by the Kremlin, thanks to a deal brokered to quell the revolt as his fighters came within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow.
Since then, Prigozhin had seemingly upstaged Putin by appearing in St. Petersburg last month, where he met with African officials while the president hosted a Russia-Africa summit.
Under the same agreement, Prigozhin’s Wagner fighters avoided punishment, and the mercenary group retained some of its extensive operations in Africa.
US President Joe Biden, when asked about the crash, commented, “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised.”
U.S. officials had speculated that Putin might seek revenge for the unprecedented rebellion that shook his image as Russia’s unassailable leader, leaving the U.S., Europe, and China pondering the political ramifications.
“CIA Director William Burns, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum last month, remarked, ‘Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback,'” as tensions continue to mount.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had no immediate response to requests for comments on Wednesday.
Russian authorities are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the jet crash, according to a statement from the press service of the Tver regional government. Unfortunately, no details regarding the identity of the casualties have been released.
The ill-fated jet, identified as an Embraer SA Legacy 600, followed what appeared to be a routine route to the northwest for approximately 12 minutes after takeoff, according to preliminary flight track data provided by Flightradar24.com.
Putin, who has been working to restore his shaken authority since the rebellion, now faces increasing nationalist anger over the prolonged invasion of Ukraine, which has stretched into its 18th month.
As he looks to secure a fifth term in the March 2024 elections, Putin’s efforts have intensified. This comes amid growing anxiety among senior officials and business tycoons, exacerbated by the recent plunge in the ruble to above 100 per dollar.
The central bank’s emergency rate hike is seen as a response to concerns that the currency’s weakness may fuel inflation and erode Russian incomes in the lead-up to the election.
