Ten our bodies have been recovered from the location of a Russian airplane crash, state media has mentioned, with a lot of high-profile members of the Wagner mercenary group reportedly on board.
Seven passengers and three crew had been on board the Embraer plane, and all had been killed, Russian authorities mentioned – though Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s dying has but to be formally confirmed.
The airplane was heading from Moscow to St Petersburg earlier than it got here down got here down close to the village of Kuzhenkino Tver.
Sky News seems to be at who was on the airplane’s manifest, launched by Russia’s civilian aviation regulator:
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Born in 1961 within the metropolis of Leningrad – now St Petersburg, Prigozhin had a tough begin in life, shedding his father at a younger age.
He turned to crime in his teenage years, initially theft, however shortly escalating into extra critical crimes. He was jailed for 12 years, aged 20, in 1981 after being convicted of theft and fraud.
Prigozhin was pardoned in 1988 and launched in 1990 when he started promoting sizzling canines at a flea market in Leningrad together with his mom and stepfather.
Prigozhin later based, or grew to become concerned in, many new companies, and within the 2000s, he grew nearer to Putin.
He even earned himself the nickname “Putin’s chef” on account of his Kremlin-linked catering enterprise. His corporations received profitable authorities contracts, together with offering faculty lunches, and in Moscow alone, his firm Concord received hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in offers.
Read extra:
From sizzling canine vendor to ‘Putin’s butcher’
Putin raised up Prigozhin up and now appears to have destroyed him
Timeline of Wagner Group chief’s actions after failed mutiny
Prigozhin’s Wagner Group was closely concerned within the seize of Bakhmut, one of many bloodiest battles within the Ukraine warfare. According to US figures, round 20,000 Russian troops had been killed within the combating, with round half regarded as from the Wagner Group.
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Dmitry Utkin
Utkin – a former Russian soldier reportedly adorned with Nazi tattoos – has been described as Prigozhin’s right-hand man and allegedly performed a key function within the founding of the Wagner Group.
He is alleged to have a fascination with the third Reich, naming the group after Adolph Hitler’s favorite composer.
Previously, Utkin was a lieutenant colonel within the GRU navy intelligence service and was deployed twice to Chechnya.
The 53-year-old has additionally been accused of involvement in quite a few warfare crimes, together with in Homs, Syria, the place he reportedly gave the order to beat a deserter to dying and demanded the act be filmed.
Sergei Propustin
Little is understood in regards to the 44 yr outdated, besides he was a Wagner fighter.
Yevgeny Makaryan
Makaryan was a fighter within the Wagner Group and was presumed to be Prigozhin’s bodyguard. He was included on the controversial Ukrainian Myrotvorets (“Peacemaker”) web site, which retains an inventory of alleged “enemies of Ukraine”.
He was a junior lieutenant within the police and fought in Syria, surviving a conflict with American planes whereas on the market.
He remained a commander within the group, although little is understood about his precise function.
Alexander Totmin
The Wagner fighter is presumed to be certainly one of Prigozhin’s bodyguards.
Valery Chekalov
The 47 yr outdated was initially from Vladivostok however had lived in St Petersburg since 2008.
Chekalov was reportedly Prigozhin’s deputy, answerable for all of the logistics of the Wagner Group.
A longtime worker of Concord holding – one other Prigozhin firm – he was in command of managing mercenaries, securing weapons, and operating the oil, fuel and mineral companies in Syria and Africa, mentioned Lou Osborn, creator of a forthcoming guide on the mercenaries and an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a undertaking specializing in the group.
He was focused by US sanctions final month for having “acted on behalf of Prigozhin” and facilitating shipments of munitions to Russia.
Nikolai Matuseyev
Matuseyev was a presumed Wagner Group fighter.
Kristina Raspopova
Raspopova was a flight attendant.
The 39-year-old air stewardess was the one girl to be killed.
She was reportedly the sister of Yevgeny Raspopov, a deputy prosecutor within the Chelyabinsk area.
One of the final photos she shared on social media was her consuming breakfast, ready for the doomed flight, together with her cabin bag subsequent to her.
Alexei Levshin
The 51-year-old pilot is survived by his spouse and two kids.
Rustam Karimov
Karimov was the co-pilot of the airplane. According to Russian media experiences he was 29 years outdated and from Perm.
Content Source: information.sky.com