Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner private military business was one of ten passengers listed on the plane’s flight manifest, but Russian officials did not confirm his death until genetic testing was done.
THe corpses of all ten passengers registered on board were discovered among the wreckage, according to Russia’s investigating commission on Sunday.
The disaster occured exactly two months after Prigozhin brief rebellion against the Russian Military hierarchy.
The insurgency was the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority in his more than two decades in power.
Prigozhin’s insurrrection was cut short by a compromise made by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally.
Lukashenko said he talked his Russian counterpart out of destroying Wagner and persuaded him to let Prigozhin to depart Russia for Belarus to settle the impasse.
The rebellion prompted some in the West, including US President Joe Biden, to speculate that the Kremlin was behind the disaster, which Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed.
So far, no evidence has been revealed that suggest that Kremlin were involved in the crash.
Russian officials have begun a criminal inquiry.
