Summary
- Speculation is ongoing as to the cause of the crash.
- All ten people on board, including Yevgeny Prigozhin and other members of the Wagner Group, lost their lives in the crash.
- President Putin expressed condolences and referred to Prigozhin as a "talented businessman" despite their previous tensions. Prigozhin had been reported dead before in 2019.
On Wednesday, 23rd August, an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet traveling from Moscow to Saint Petersburg came down near the settlement of Kuzhenkino in Tver Oblast. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian state-funded private military company, the Wagner Group, is understood to have died in the crash.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, with an investigation currently underway. There had been early speculation of a bomb or an anti-aircraft missile being to blame, although the validity of such claims cannot be verified. Video footage reportedly shows the stricken aircraft missing either its vertical stabilizer or one of its wings shortly prior to impact.
The aircraft involved in the incident
The Embraer Legacy 600 involved in Wednesday's incident was delivered new to Slovenia's Linxair in October 2007, and has since flown for a number of VIP operators, including International Jet Management and MNG Jet. The aircraft was acquired by the Wagner group in September 2020, when it was re-registered as RA-02795.
All ten people onboard the aircraft perished when it crashed. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency released a passenger list, which also included Prigozhin's number two in command, Dmitry Utkin, and five other members of the Wagner Group. There were also three crew members operating the flight.
The reaction from President Putin
In the run-up to the crash, Yevgeny Prigozhin had been openly defiant of Vladimir Putin. The so-called Wagner Group Rebellion, led by Prigozhin, took place in June 2023, after a period of increased tensions with the Russian Ministry of Defence. At the time, Putin condemned the rebellion as an act of treason.
The Russian president broke his silence on the incident earlier today, saying that he "would like to, above all, express words of the most sincere condolences to the families of all those who have died." He went on to hail Yevgeny Prigozhin as a 'talented businessman,' saying,
"I had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the start of the '90s. He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life. And he strove for the results he needed for himself, and when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months."
A lucky escape
Prigozhin is believed to have spent the few days leading up to the crash in West Africa, with Western analysts fearing that he was trying to widen Wagner's reach into other countries. Coincidentally, this is not the first time that Prigozhin has been reported dead; in 2019, he was believed to have been killed in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, only to reappear three days later.
Wednesday's crash is only the second incident involving an Embraer Legacy 600, the other being a midair collision with a Gol Transportes Aéreos flight 1907 above Brazil in 2006. All 154 passengers and crew onboard the Boeing 737-800 perished, but those onboard the Embraer business jet escaped unharmed.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to impact the aviation industry in both countries, and earlier this week, the airspace over Moscow was closed following a Ukrainian drone strike. For now, the investigation into the crash in Tver Oblast continues, with the world's media and political leaders eagerly awaiting any developments.
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What do you make of Wednesday's crash in Tver Oblast, Russia? Share your thoughts by commenting below.
Sources: BBC News, Planespotters.net