Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who attempted an unsuccessful coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been reportedly killed in a plane crash in Russia's Tver region.
Besides him, nine other people on board were also dead in the crash. Prigozhin was on the passenger list but it remains unclear if he was on board.
According to Russia's Emergencies Ministry, all 10 people -- three crew members and seven passengers -- on board the private Embraer Legacy jet were killed in the crash.
Russia's state aviation agency Rosaviatsia said that an individual with Prigozhin's name was one of the people on board.
Tver region Governor Igor Rudenya has taken "personal control" over the response to the plane crash, his press service told state media, adding that the plane was a civil aircraft, The Moscow Times reported.
After the Wagner mercenaries' failed rebellion against the Russian military in June, Prigozhin appeared in a video address, suggesting that he was currently in Africa, the media reported on August 22, 2023.
Although the video posted on Telegram channels linked to the mercenary group is yet to be officially verified, it shows Prigozhin in combat gear, saying the group is making Africa "more free", reports the BBC.
In the video, he says Wagner is exploring for minerals as well as fighting Islamist militants and other criminals.
"We are working. The temperature is +50, everything as we like. Wagner PMC conducts reconnaissance and search actions, makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free," tPrigozhin can be heard saying.
"Justice and happiness -- for the African people, we're making life a nightmare for ISIS (Islamic State) and Al Qaeda and other bandits."
The picture, according to Russian media, was taken at Trezzini Palace Hotel in St. Petersburg, where he has kept an office in the premises. The hotel was one of the locations searched by Russian authorities on July 6, after the June 24 rebellion.
Since then, Prigozhin had only been seen in public on July 19, when he seemingly appeared in a video inside Belarus, apparently greeting Wagner fighters at a base in Asipovichy.
During the rebellion, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had claimed that he convinced his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to "destroy" Wagner and Prigozhin, which led to a halt in the mutiny.
Prigozhin founded Wagner as a shadowy mercenary outfit that fought both in Ukraine and, increasingly, for Russian-backed causes around the world.
Prigozhin's mercenaries are embedded in several countries including Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Ukraine and Syria.
(With inputs from IANS)
