Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been confirmed dead after genetic analysis of the bodies from last week’s plane crash, Russian officials said Sunday.
After “molecular genetic examinations,” were completed, “the identities of all 10 dead were established” and “they correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet,” of the aircraft that went down Wednesday north of Moscow, the Russian investigative committee said in a statement on Telegram.
Prigozhin and some of his most trusted lieutenants, including Dmitry Utkin — a shadowy figure with neo-Nazi tattoos known as the mercenary chief’s right-hand man — and logistics chief Valery Chekalov, were listed on the passenger manifest.
The Kremlin has denied it was behind the incident, rejecting widespread speculation that the crash was a revenge assassination for Prigozhin’s short-lived mutiny two months earlier.
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