Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday was formally confirmed dead following genetic analysis, investigators said, as anger and questions continued to mount over what caused his plane to crash last week.
Speculation that the Kremlin might have been involved in the crash has been rife, with the incident coming exactly two months after Wagner staged a mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership.
“Molecular-genetic examinations have been completed as part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver region,” said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman from Russia’s Investigative Committee. “According to their results, the identities of all 10 victims were established, they correspond to the list stated in the flight list.”
Photo: AFP
Among the nine other people listed onboard the Embraer private jet that crashed on Wednesday last week was Dmitry Utkin, a shadowy figure who managed Wagner’s operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the incident as “tragic” to reporters on Friday last week, calling rumors of possible foul play an “absolute lie.”
His comments came as the Kremlin appeared to rein in groups such as Wagner, with a presidential decree signed on Friday last week forcing paramilitary fighters to swear an oath to the Russian flag.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday last week said that he had known Prigozhin — once a loyal ally — since the early 1990s, describing him as a man who made mistakes, but “achieved results.”
His comments did little to stem mounting questions and anger over the mercenary’s chief’s death, with makeshift shrines to Prigozhin springing up in Russian cities.
Video showed one memorial on Moscow’s Varvarka Street, just outside the Kremlin, as people stood solemnly before a line of red roses and pictures of Prigozhin.
“He was killed,” said one man wearing a shirt marked with the letter “Z” — a symbol representing Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
“He was killed by his enemies. We won’t say who ... but we hope that revenge will catch up with those who committed this crime,” he added.
A woman outside the memorial said that Prigozhin showed “courage, determination and persistence.”
“He understood the threat that was looming. He understood it all perfectly, but despite that, he did his job,” she said.
Similar memorials were spotted across the nation in cities such as Perm and Saint Petersburg — Prigozhin’s birthplace.
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