2023 Tver plane crash

On 23 August 2023, an Embraer Legacy 600 crashed in Kuzhenkino, Tver Oblast, Russia. The crash killed all ten people onboard, including three crew members.[1] The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said that the passenger list included the names of the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin and its co-founder, Dmitri Utkin.[2] It is likely that both Prigozhin and Utkin were on the aircraft. On 27 August, the Russian Investigative Committee used DNA testing to confirm the identities of all the crash victims, including Prigozhin.[3]

2023 Tver plane crash
Crash
Date23 August 2023 (2023-08-23)
SiteKuzhenkino, Tver Oblast, Russia
Aircraft
Aircraft typeEmbraer Legacy 600
RegistrationRA-02795
Flight originMoscow
DestinationSaint Petersburg, Russia
Passengers7
Crew3
Fatalities10
Survivors0

Background

The airplane was first registered in Slovenia as S5-ALS and then had different owners. Prigozhin purchased it in 2020[4] or 2018. The US didn't let the plane enter because Prigozhin was under sanctions for being involved in interference with 2018 United States elections.

The plane was also linked to taking Prigozhin to Belarus in the aftermath of the Wagner Group rebellion.[5]

Crash
Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) and Dmitry Utkin (right) were killed in the crash

According to Flightradar24.com, the airplane was (already) flying at 15:00 UTC. At 15:11, it was 8,500 m up.[6] It stayed at this height until 15:19. Then, it climbed to 9,200 m. Next, it went down to 8,400 m and up to 8,900 m.

The airplane crashed in Kuzhenkino, Tver Oblast, about 60 miles (100 km) north of where it took off in Moscow.

Prigozhin, Utkin and eight other people died in the crash as suggested by the flight records and later confirmed by DNA analysis of the bodies.[3]

Assassination controversy

Following the plane crash, allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Russian Ministry of Defense orchestrated the crash to assassinate Prigozhin as punishment for the Wagner Group rebellion in June 2023.[7] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly claimed that Putin was behind the crash,[8] while United States President Joe Biden heavily implied it.[9]

Vladimir Putin denied that the Russian government had any involvement in the crash, claiming the allegations were an "absolute lie."[10] The Russian government instead alleged that Ukraine had assassinated Prigozhin,[11] likely as revenge for the Battle of Bakhmut.

References
  1. "Yevgeny Prigozhin in fatal plane crash, Russian officials say". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  2. "Wagner Group commander Dmitry Utkin was on plane that crashed north of Moscow, Russian civil aviation authority says". Sky News. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  3. "Wagner boss Prigozhin confirmed dead in plane crash - Moscow". BBC. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  4. "Prigožinovo letalo najprej last slovenskega podjetja: "Niso ga niti prebarvali"". N1info.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  5. "Crashed Russian Embraer jet had good safety record: Company". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  6. "RA-02795". Flightradar24.com. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  7. Sharafutdinova, Gulnaz. "Prigozhin's life and death exposed the rot in the Russian state". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  8. "Zelenskyy: Putin killed Prigozhin". POLITICO. 2023-09-08. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  9. Sauer, Pjotr; Russell, Graham (2023-08-24). "Biden points finger at Putin as Prigozhin's reported death seen as a warning to 'elites'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  10. Roth, Andrew (2023-08-25). "Kremlin denies killing Yevgeny Prigozhin in plane crash". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  11. Putin Aide’s Stunning Claim, Says Ukraine Behind Wagner Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Death | Details, retrieved 2023-12-20
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