Russian authorities have officially confirmed the death of Wagner’s mercenary leader Eugene V. Prigozhin, with investigators saying on Sunday that genetic testing showed the victims of a plane crash last week matched all the names on the aircraft manifest.
Mr Prigozhin is believed to have died in a plane crash on Wednesday, an incident two months after he launched a failed mutiny against Russian military leaders that US and Western officials said. believe was the result of an explosion on board. However, Russian authorities said they were awaiting the results of an investigation before confirming the identity of those on board.
Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian investigative committee, said in a statement statement posted on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that the identities of the 10 dead had been established and they matched those listed in the flight log.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, in his first comments on the accident, spoke indirectly about Mr. Prigozhin’s death, referring to him in the past tense, but did not confirm it. “He made serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved the necessary results,” Putin said.
