Key Takeaways
- The plane crash in the Tver Region claimed the lives of ten passengers, including Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
- Russian authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the crash shortly after the incident.
- U.S. President Joe Biden was briefed on the event, noting he was not surprised by the reports.
- International media, including White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson, highlighted the geopolitical implications of Prigozhin’s death.
Moscow/Washington: Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport confirmed on Wednesday that Wagner Group private military company’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed.
The fatal incident occurred in a plane crash in the Tver Region near Moscow.
According to the name list released by the agency on its Telegram account, Prigozhin was among the ten people who lost their lives in the crash earlier Wednesday.
The agency said earlier that an investigation had been launched into the cause of the plane crash in the Tver Region, noting that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the passengers.
A private Embraer plane en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed in the Tver Region on Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said, noting all the ten people on board were killed in the accident.
U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on reports that a plane reportedly carrying Prigozhin crashed in Russia, according to the White House press pool.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised,” Biden said when asked about the crash. The president, staying in the state of Nevada for the day with no public events scheduled, said he was doing physical exercises when being told about the news.
“We have seen the reports. If confirmed, no one should be surprised,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said via her account on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
