Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Wagner -Russia’s state funded military – was on the passenger list of a plane which crashed in Russia, killing all 10 on board.
He was believed to be on board the plane.
Earlier, a Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported that the jet was shot down by air defences in Tver region, north of Moscow.
Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces in June.
All three pilots and seven passengers aboard the plane that was travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg are dead, the state news agency Tass reported earlier.
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