Breaking news from the BBC 2 mins ago 18:14 PM BST Wed 23 Aug 2023:
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in plane crash in Russia, with nine other people on board also dead
View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66599733
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UPDATE 1
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed killing all on board, Russia's civil aviation authority has said.
Earlier, Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported the Embraer aircraft was shot down by air defences in the Tver region, north of Moscow.
The jet, which was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, was carrying seven passengers and three crew.
Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces in June.
Grey Zone said local residents heard two bangs before the crash and saw two vapour trails.
Tass news agency said the plane caught fire on hitting the ground, adding that four bodies had already been found.
The aircraft had been in the air for less than half an hour, it said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66599733
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Summary - BBC News Live Reporting 19:38 PM BST Wed 23 Aug 2023
- Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the list of passengers on an aircraft that crashed in the Tver Region, Russian authorities say
- The Russian Emergencies Ministry has said that private aircraft “came down” near the village of Kuzhenkino - and all were killed
- The ministry says the jet was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, and that 10 people, including three crew members, were on board
- Eight bodies have been found at the crash site, according to Russian news agency. It's not been confirmed if Prigozhin was amongst those
- Prigozhin has been keeping a low public profile since heading his short-lived mutiny in June, which lasted only 24 hours
- He last appearing in a video earlier this week which was said to have been filmed in an unspecified location in Africa
- The Wagner mercenary group was founded in 2014 and was highly active in the Ukraine war until the June mutiny
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UPDATE 2
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View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66599733
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UPDATE 3
From BBC Live Reporting 8:48 PM BST Wed 23 Aug 2023 - full copy:
Written by Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent
Prigozhin had been labelled a dead man walking
"A dead man walking" is how several Russia watchers have been describing the mercenary Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ever since he led his mutinous march on Moscow in late June.
President Putin’s initial reaction to that challenge to Russia’s defence establishment was vitriolic, calling it a betrayal and a stab in the back in a video message on 24 June.
The fact that a deal was then hastily cobbled together that saw Prigozhin remain at large and subsequently pop up in Belarus, St Petersburg and this week, somewhere in Africa, did not mean he was safe.
"Revenge" commented the CIA Director William Burns, "is a dish Putin prefers served cold" or words to that effect.
None of this, of course, is proof that Prigozhin and his entourage were deliberately targeted.
But given the circumstances any claims that his demise, if confirmed, was an accident will see a lot of eyebrows raised.
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UPDATE 4
From BBC News Live Reporting 18:45 PM Wed 23 Aug 2023 BST - full copy:
Prigozhin's first video address since mutiny
TELEGRAM/GREY ZONE
Copyright: TELEGRAM/GREY ZONE
A caption posted with the video on Telegram suggests Yevgeny Prigozhin was in an African country
Image caption: A caption posted with the video on Telegram suggests Yevgeny Prigozhin was in an African country
Yesterday we were reporting that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had appeared in his first video address since his failed mutiny in Russia.
The video, which suggested he was in Africa, was posted on Telegram channels linked to the Wagner mercenary group.
It showed Prigozhin in combat gear, saying the group is making Africa "more free".
The BBC has not been able to verify where the video was filmed.
Wagner is believed to have thousands of fighters on the continent, where it has lucrative business interests.
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UPDATE 5
Here is a copy of a tweet by BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking):
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in plane crash in Russia, with nine other people on board also dead https://t.co/MyWc67NhPa
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 23, 2023 - 6:15 PM BST
2.5K replies, 4.4M Views, 7,368 Reposts,
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UPDATE 6
Report at BBC News Live Reporting
By Will Vernon
BBC News, Moscow
Wed 23 Aug 2023 20:20 PM BST - full copy:
Everything happened very quickly
Shortly after the first reports of the plane crash, Russian media swiftly established that the jet belonged to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Shortly after that, the Russian Emergencies Ministry released a statement saying all 10 people on board had been killed.
But what was incredibly fast - suspiciously so - was the speed with which Rosaviatsiya, the Russian Aviation Authority, reacted: releasing a statement confirming that Yevgeny Prigozhin's name was on the passenger list of the aircraft.
As is usually the case in Russia, a lot of things remain unclear.
First and foremost, who exactly was on the plane: we have not yet received confirmation of whether Yevgeny Prigozhin is among the dead.
Secondly, what exactly happened – was the plane hit by air defence weapons? Was there an explosion on board?
It is exactly two months to the day since Wagner launched its brief mutiny, seizing a major Russian city and even marching on Moscow.
The failed coup was a significant humiliation for the Kremlin. What exactly happened today is still not known – but many in Russia have been speculating for weeks that Prigozhin’s days might be numbered.
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UPDATE 7
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UPDATE 8
From BBC News Live Reporting
BREAKING
20:36 PM Wed 23 Aug 2023
Prigozhin dead, says Wagner-linked Telegram channel
A Telegram channel linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin has said the Wagner leader is dead.
- Grey Zone said he was "killed as a result of actions by traitors of Russia".
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