agner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a flight that has crashed in Russia killing all 10 people on board, according to reports.
Seven passengers and three crew were on board the private Embraer aircraft, which was en route from Moscow to St Petersburg, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported.
The jet is said to have crashed in the Tver region, north of Moscow.
Russia’s civilian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said Prigozhin was on the passenger list. However, it was not immediately clear if he had boarded the flight.
Mr Prigozhin, whose private military force fought alongside Russia’s regular army in Ukraine, mounted a short-lived armed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June.
The Kremlin said he would be exiled to Belarus, and his fighters would either retire, follow him there, or join the Russian military.
An image reported to show smoke from the crash in the Tver region
/ via REUTERSPresident Joe Biden has been briefed on the reported plane crash.
White House national security spokesperson Adrienne Watson said: “We have seen the reports. If confirmed, no one should be surprised [given his history with Putin].”
The UK’s Foreign Office said: “We are monitoring the situation closely.”
Flight tracking data reviewed by The Associated Press shows a private jet registered to Wagner that Prigozhin had used previously took off from Moscow on Wednesday evening and its transponder signal disappeared minutes later.
Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone said local residents heard two bangs before the crash and saw two vapour trails.
Tass news agency said the plane caught fire on hitting the ground, adding that bodies had already been found.
The aircraft had been in the air for less than half an hour, it said.
Another news agency, Ria, said eight bodies had been recovered.
Grey Zone reports that a second business jet owned by Prigozhin landed safely in the Moscow region.
Mercenary boss Prigozhin, 62, headed the mutiny between June 23 and 24, moving his troops from Ukraine, seizing the southern Russian city of Rostov on Don and threatened to march on Moscow.
The move came after months of tension with Russian military commanders over the Ukraine conflict.
The stand-off was settled by a deal which allowed Wagner troops to move to Belarus or join the Russian army.
Prigozhin himself agreed to relocate to Belarus.
But in recent weeks he has apparently been able to move freely, making public appearances in Russia and releasing a video of him purportedly in Africa.
Prigozhin says Wagner is making Africa ‘more free’ in new video
As the news about the crash was breaking, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at an event commemorating the Battle of Kursk, hailing the heroes of Russia’s “the special military operation” in Ukraine.
Also this week, Russian media reported, citing anonymous sources, that a top Russian general linked to Prigozhin — General Sergei Surovikin — was dismissed from his position of the commander of Russia’s air force.
Surovikin, who at one point led Russia’s operation in Ukraine, hasn’t been seen in public since the mutiny, when he recorded a video address urging Prigozhin’s forces to pull back.