New ‘Suspect’ In The Сase Of Prigozhin's Plane Crash

Before the Wagner Group boss's death, he unexpectedly left for Kamchatka.

The Russian investigation is considering a version according to which an explosive device was planted in the aircraft of the Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in the landing gear compartment. The Shot Telegram channel reported, citing a source.

Another Telegram channel, the VCHK OGPU, spoke about the first suspect and about the identification of Prigozhin's body by one of the Wagner Group commanders.

According to the Shot source, the explosion was near the landing gear during the flight. The blast tore off a wing, which hit the stabilizer, the business jet began rapidly losing altitude and then fell.

The VCHK OGPU Telegram channel claims that the first suspect appeared in the case of the plane crash - Prigozhin's personal pilot and the former founder of the company that owns the crashed airliner MNT Aero, Artem Stepanov. According to the channel, he had access to the plane, he is wanted by law enforcement agencies. The channel also writes that Stepanov left for Kamchatka before the plane crashed. According to his brother, Stepanov has been on the campaign for three days and there was no communication with him.

The source of the VCHK OGPU also said that one of the Wagner Group commanders officially identified the body of Yevgeny Prigozhin in the morgue. The main sign was the absence of a finger. Also, the second leader of Wagner, Dmitry Utkin, was identified by height and tattoos in the morgue.

Recall that a business jet owned by the founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Russian Tver region on the evening of August 23. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case on violation of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport.

Rosaviatsiya [the Federal Air Transport Agency - Ed.] has published a list of passengers of the crashed plane. Yevgeny Prigozhin, group commander Dmitry Utkin and head of companies associated with Prigozhin Valery Chekalov were among them. There are reports about their deaths but no official confirmation so far.

The crash of the plane happened exactly two months after the rebellion by Prigozhin and his mercenaries.