Map shows route of Wagner boss Prigozhin plane’s doomed final flight | World News

A plane believed to be carrying Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was involved in a fiery crash near the city of Tver yesterday evening.

Plenty of questions still surround the incident – including whether the mercenary chief, who led his fighters on an audacious march to Moscow two months ago, was even really on board.

While officials in Russia say he was among 10 people killed in the crash, there has been no shortage of speculation over his fate and many Western authorities are taking care to avoid speaking with certainty.

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The aircraft that tumbled from the sky yesterday – a Brazilian-made Embraer Legacy 600 – was certainly heavily associated with the Wagner group and its leader.

Given the registration RA-02795, it is believed to be the same plane that took Prigozhin to Belarus after the dramatic mutiny in June.

Russia’s TASS news agency reported that it took off from Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, the busiest airport in the country, and was heading for St Petersburg.

Data from tracker website Flightradar24 shows the jet taking off at around 3pm UTC, or 6pm local time, and flying north-west.

The site was unable to keep tracking its position after 3.11pm, likely due to jamming or interference in the area.

It stopped transmitting data entirely less than 10 minutes later, but the final 30 seconds shows the plane’s altitude falling and rising several times before it eventually plummets to the ground.

Ross Aimer, a retired pilot and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, told The Washington Post: ‘That zigzagging in the air basically tells me that somehow the pilot may have lost control of his airplane — for whatever reason.

‘Let’s say a missile strike or a piece of the aircraft coming apart.’

Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24 said it fell more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000ft within half a minute, adding: ‘Whatever happened, happened quickly.’

Prior to its plunge, there was ‘no indication that there was anything wrong with this aircraft’, he said.

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