Flight data shows the path taken by the plane reported to have been carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin before it crashed, killing all those on board.
Russia’s civil aviation authority said that Mr Prigozhin, who led a failed coup against the Kremlin two months ago, was one of 10 people on board when the aircraft came down near the village of Kuzhenkino, northwest of the capital, Moscow on Wednesday.
Flight data shows the plane was first tracked northwest of Moscow at an altitude of 12,275ft. It continued travelling northwest and was last tracked northwest of the Tver region at 28,000.
The plane, an Embraer Legacy 600, registration number 02795, then crashed some time later near the village of Kuzhenkino, northwest of Moscow, during a flight from the capital to St Petersburg.
Flight took off from Moscow and was headed to St Petersburg— (flightradar24)
There was no official comment from the Kremlin or the Russian defence ministry on the fate of Mr Prigozhin, a self-declared enemy of the army’s leadership over what he argued was its incompetent prosecution of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, Grey Zone, pronounced him dead and hailed him as a hero and a patriot. It said he died at the hands of unidentified people it called "traitors to Russia."
Crash site after Embraer Legacy 600 is downed northwest of Moscow— (TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP via Get)
Body bags were seen being carried away from the crash site early on Thursday morning and Russian state media said all those onboard had been recovered.
Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators had erected a tent.
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Kremlin two months ago— (AP)
Mourners left flowers and lit candles near Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg early on Thursday.
Amid fevered speculation and an absence of verifiable facts, some of Mr Prigozhin’s supporters pointed the finger of blame at the Russian state, others at Ukraine which was due to mark its Independence Day on Thursday.
Whoever or whatever was behind the crash, his death would rid Putin of someone who had mounted the most serious challenge to the Russian leader’s authority since he came to power in 1999.
