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What to know about the plane crash
- Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group who led an aborted mutiny in June, was listed as a passenger on a jet that crashed north of Moscow.
- A Telegram channel associated with the Wagner Group claimed that Prigozhin was among the dead.
- Russian officials said all 10 people on a private Embraer Legacy aircraft that crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg had died.
- For months before the mutiny, Prigozhin mocked and criticized Russia’s top military brass, accusing it of incompetence throughout the war in Ukraine.
Prison, poison, fatal shootings: The fates of Putin foes
Others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death.
Alexei Navalny
Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was flown to Germany in August 2020 for medical treatment after he was poisoned in Siberia with what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok. Russia has denied any involvement.
Navalny is serving sentences totaling 11½ years on fraud and other charges that he says are bogus. Navalny had an extra 19 years in a maximum-security penal colony added to his jail term recently.
Sergei Skripal
A former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench in England in March 2018.
They were taken to hospital in critical condition, and British officials said they had been poisoned with Novichok, a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Both survived.
Russia has denied any role in the poisoning and said Britain was whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.
Vladimir Kara-Murza
A Russian opposition activist, Vladimir Kara-Murza said he believes attempts were made to poison him in 2015 and 2017. A German laboratory later found elevated levels of mercury, copper, manganese and zinc in him, according to medical reports seen by Reuters. Moscow denied involvement.
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent and outspoken critic of Putin, died in 2006 at 43 after having drunk green tea laced with polonium-210, a rare and potent radioactive isotope, at London’s Millennium Hotel, British officials have said.
Putin probably approved the killing, a British inquiry concluded in 2016. The Kremlin has denied involvement.
Alexander Perepilichny
Alexander Perepilichny, 44, was found dead near his luxury home outside London after he had been out jogging in November 2012.
Perepilichny sought refuge in Britain from Russia in 2009 after he helped a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme.
British police ruled out foul play despite suspicions he might have been murdered with a rare poison. Russia denied involvement.
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko, then a Ukrainian opposition leader, was poisoned during the campaign for the 2004 presidential election.
He said he was poisoned while he was having dinner outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Russia denied any involvement.
His body was found to contain 1,000 times more dioxin than is normally present. His face and body were disfigured by the poisoning, and he had dozens of operations in the aftermath.
Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who reported on human rights abuses, was shot dead outside her flat in Moscow on Oct. 7, 2006. The slaying provoked an outcry in the West and underlined concerns about the dangers to reporters working in Russia.
Top general linked to Prigozhin reportedly dismissed
The crash comes after Russian media reported that Sergei Surovikin, a top general linked to Prigozhin, was dismissed as commander of the air force.
Surovikin, who at one point led Russia’s operation in Ukraine, hasn’t been seen in public since the mutiny, when he recorded a video address urging Prigozhin’s forces to pull back.
Little will change in Russia’s war in Ukraine
Even if it is confirmed, Prigozhin’s death is unlikely to have an effect on Russia’s war in Ukraine, where his forces fought some of the fiercest battles over the last 18 months.
His troops pulled back from front-line action after they captured Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, in late May. Bakhmut had been the subject of arguably the bloodiest battles in the entire war, with the Russian forces having struggled to seize it for months.
Crash comes exactly two months after Prigozhin's march on Moscow
The plane crashed north of Moscow two months to the day since Prigozhin's June 23 mutiny attempt.
In the months leading up to his revolt, Prigozhin mocked Russian leaders' incompetence in Ukraine before he alleged that his fighters had been struck and vowed revenge. after his threat, made on Telegram, the Federal Security Service urged members of the Wagner Group to distance themselves from their leader.
But the march on Moscow ended nearly as quickly as it erupted. Prigozhin ordered his forces to stand down and retreat roughly 36 hours later.
Although Prigozhin's rebellion was short-lived, it appeared to damage Putin's rein on Russia. CIA Director William Burns said last month that the rebellion reignited questions "about Putin’s judgment, about his relative detachment from events and about his indecisiveness.”
The rebellion represented “the most direct assault on the Russian state in Vladimir Putin’s 23 years in power,” Burns said.
Emergency personnel work at the wreckage site
Prigozhin appeared to give first video address in months this week
Prigozhin on Monday appeared to give his first video address since the mutiny that shook the Kremlin two months ago. The 41-second clip was published by several Telegram channels affiliated with Wagner.
A person who appears to be Prigozhin is seen in military fatigues and a bulletproof vest featuring the Wagner logo, standing in a desertlike area. He vows to make Africa “more free” and “Russia even greater on every continent.”
NBC News was not able to verify the video’s authenticity, as well as when or where it was shot.
Former Russia ambassador McFaul: Everyone but Prigozhin knew revenge was coming
Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said it seemed like everyone but Prigozhin saw this coming.
"Prigozhin humiliated Putin with his mutiny," McFaul posted to X. "Everyone but Prigozhin seemed to understand that Putin would eventually seek revenge. Looks like he did today."
NBC News has not confirmed reports of Prigozhin's death.
McFaul said, however, that the move does not necessarily imply Putin's reign over Russia is secure.
"But if you have to kill your buddies, is that really a sign of strength?" he added.
Others have changed names to Prigozhin to create confusion, expert warns
Keir Giles, a Russia expert with the international affairs think tank Chatham House, urged caution about reports of Prigozhin’s death.
He said “multiple individuals have changed their name to Yevgeniy Prigozhin, as part of his efforts to obfuscate his travels.”
“Let’s not be surprised if he pops up shortly in a new video from Africa,” Giles said.
Remains of all 10 passengers found, local media reports
The remains of all 10 people aboard the crashed jet have been found, Russia's Interfax news agency has reported, citing emergency services in the country.
“Search operation completed,” the agency said.
Flight had 'dramatic descent' in final moments, data shows
The flight that reportedly carried Prigozhin and nine other people lost altitude suddenly before it crashed north of Moscow today, data purportedly shows.
Flightradar24, a service that tracks publicly broadcast flight information, has published data of the aircraft in its final moments. The plane did not transmit its position, but it sent out other data, including altitude and speed, and it experienced a “dramatic descent,” the site said.
Video purportedly of the crash also shows the plane heading almost directly downward before it hits the ground.
Head of Zelenskyy’s office posts AC/DC’s 'Highway to Hell'
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office has posted an audio link on his Telegram channel to AC/DC’s song “Highway to Hell.”
Andriy Yermak did not leave any other comment.
U.S. allies comparing assessments on Prigozhin’s death
American and European allies are comparing assessments on Prigozhin's death to get clarification about today's events, a Western official has confirmed.
The official, who did not want to be named in order to speak freely, added that if the reports are true, it had been largely expected.
Prigozhin 'won't be missed in Belarus,' opposition leader says
Prigozhin “won’t be missed in Belarus,” said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a Belarusian politician who is the primary rival to the country’s Russia-aligned president, Alexander Lukashenko.
“He was a murderer & should be remembered as such,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“His death might dismantle Wagner’s presence in Belarus, reducing the threat to our nation & neighbors,” she added.
Video shows fiery wreckage of plane
A video shared widely on social media shows the burning wreckage of the plane that crashed in a field in Russia's Tver region today.
"Here are the wings, it seems," the person recording the video near the village of Kuzhenkino says in Russian. "795 is written on the wing."
Prigozhin has previously been linked to a plane with the registration number RA-02795.
NBC News has not confirmed he was on the plane.
Russia releases list of passengers purportedly on flight, includes Prigozhin
Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport isted "Evgeny Prigozhin" as among the 10 it said died today in a crash north of Moscow.
The list posted on Telegram included the names of six other passengers, including Dmitry Utkin, another senior Wagner Group official, as well as three crew members.
NBC News cannot independently verify that Prigozhin or Utkin were on the flight or died in the crash.
Wagner-associated Telegram channel claims Prigozhin is dead
A Telegram channel associated with the Wagner mercenary group is claiming that Prigozhin is dead.
NBC News has not been able to independently verify reports of the Wagner Group chief's death, and Russian officials have not commented on it yet.
"The head of the Wagner Group, Hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, died as a result of actions by traitors of Russia," the Grey Zone posted on Telegram.
The account, which has more than 550,000 subscribers, has shared a lot of material related to Prigozhin.
Prigozhin 'signed a special death warrant for himself,' Zelenskyy adviser says
Prigozhin "signed a special death warrant for himself" when he brokered a deal with Belarusian President Alexander Luskashenko and called off his march on Moscow, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today.
NBC News has not independently verified Prigozhin’s death.
"The demonstrative elimination of Prigozhin and the Wagner command two months after the coup attempt is a signal from Putin to Russia’s elites ahead of the 2024 elections," Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.
“Beware! Disloyalty equals death,” he added.
Russian officials: All 10 people on plane killed
Russia's main federal investigating authority said all 10 people on the Embraer Legacy plane that went down today north of Moscow were most likely dead.
“A business jet en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed in the Tver region. Ten people on board were killed, according to preliminary information,” the Investigating Committee said via Telegram.
Biden: 'There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind'
President Joe Biden weighed in on reports about Prigozhin’s death when reporters lobbed questions at him today as he was leaving a Pilates studio in Tahoe, California, where he is on vacation.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised,” Biden said when asked for his reaction.
“There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind,” he added. “But I don’t know enough to know the answer. I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half.”
'Specially established commission' to investigate crash, Kremlin says
A “specially established commission” has started “investigating the circumstances and causes of the accident,” the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport said in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.
“According to preliminary data, there were seven passengers and three crew members on board the aircraft, which was en-rote from Moscow to St. Petersburg,” the statement said.
At the scene, investigators have "begun collecting factual materials on the training of the crew, the technical condition of the aircraft, the meteorological situation on the flight route, the work of dispatch services and ground radio equipment," the statement said.
They will also search for the black box recorder, it added.
'If confirmed, no one should be surprised,' NSC spokesperson says
If Prigozhin was indeed on the flight that went down north of Moscow, it should not come as a surprise, a National Security Council spokesperson said.
“We have seen the reports. If confirmed, no one should be surprised. The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now — it would seem — to this,” Adrienne Watson said.
Video shows plane crashing in Russia's Tver region
Video posted to social media shows a plane crashing near the village of Kuzhenkino, in Russia’s Tver region.
“Where will it blow up? Where did it fall?” a female voice can be heard saying in Russian as the aircraft spirals to the ground. “Look, you can see pieces falling here.”
“Bloody hell there’s a lot of smoke. And there you can see the pieces still falling,” they added.
NBC News has geolocated the video near the village of Kuzhenkino, in the Tver region, but cannot independently confirm that Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the plane.
Blinken: 'If I were Mr. Prigozhin, I would remain very concerned'
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell last month that he would be “very concerned” if he were Yevgeny Prigozhin.
During a fireside chat at the Aspen Security Forum hosted by Mitchell, Blinken said the mercenary chief had “made a direct challenge” to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority.
“NATO has an ‘open door’ policy; Russia has an open windows policy, and he needs to be very focused on that,” Blinken said.
8 bodies found at crash site, state media reports
Eight bodies have been found at the site where the plane came down, the state-owned news agency Ria Novosti reported.
The report did not identify the victims.
Russian Ministry of Emergency Services says a plane crashed
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Services confirmed in a statement that a private Embraer Legacy aircraft crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, without saying whether Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board.
The jet had “10 people on board, including three crew members” when it came down, it said in a statement.
It added that emergency services were “conducting search operations.”
Prigozhin's name on doomed plane's manifest, Ria reports
Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport has listed Prigozhin's name among the seven passengers on the plane that went down in the Tver region, state-run Ria Novosti state news agency reported on Wednesday.
“According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, an investigation has been launched into the Embraer crash,” it reported. “Among the passengers is the name and surname of Evgeny Prigozhin.”
The agency had launched an investigation into the crash, Tass reported.
Russian officials were not immediately available for comment.