All 10 passengers on board a business plane traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg died in the collision on Wednesday, according to Russian emergency officials. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenaries, was listed on the passenger list, according to officials, but it wasn't immediately apparent if he was on board.
Unverified media sources claimed that Prigozhin, the man behind Wagner Private Military, owned the jet.
Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil aviation authority, confirmed that Prigozhin was a passenger. It was not immediately clear, though, if he had gotten on the plane.
According to emergency personnel, the aircraft was carrying three pilots and seven passengers, according to the Russian state news outlet Tass. More than 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Moscow, in the Tver area, the authorities said they were looking into the incident.
In late June, Prigozhin led a brief armed uprising against Russia's military leadership. Wagner, Prigozhin's private military unit, had fought alongside Russia's regular army in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, his soldiers would either retire, accompany him to Belarus, or enlist in the Russian military when he was banished there.
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