Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s body was supposedly recognized by a partially missing finger after being recovered from the wreckage of a jet that crashed in Russia’s Tver area,’ with reports claiming a ‘bomb’ onboard was to blame.
Prigozhin received the injury to his left hand while serving time in a penal colony, the Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU said.
It was also revealed that a senior Wagner commander recognised the body from the injury, as well as his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin from his tattoos.
It comes after a preliminary US intelligence assessment determined that the accident was caused by an intentional explosion, although the Pentagon says there is no evidence pointing to a surface-to-air defense missile at this time.
At a Pentagon news conference, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, provided no additional specifics or evidence.
Western sources have stated that Prigozhin was’very certainly’ targeted, implying a bomb on board or purposeful sabotage of the jet, though Ryder has refused to say on whether the incident was an assassination plot.
An anonymous US official said it was ‘very likely’ that Prigozhin had been targeted.
It happened after two Russian media outfits claiming to have security contacts inside the Kremlin said that one or two bombs had been put aboard the plane.
According to unsubstantiated accounts, the devices were planted near the toilet at the back of an airplane.
This was fanned by allegations from stewardess Kristina Raspopova, 39, who wrote on social media before takeoff that her flight had been delayed owing to’repairs’ at the last minute. It is likely that a bomb was hidden on board during this time, although this has not been confirmed.
Details of the US assessment emerged as Putin extended condolences to the families of those reported to be onboard the plane and referred to as “serious mistakes.”
The Telegram channel reported: ‘The body of Yevgeny Prigozhin was officially identified in the morgue, he was identified by one of the commanders of the PMC Wagner. The main sign was the absence of a finger.’
According to Russia’s civil aviation authorities, the founder of the Wagner military firm and six other passengers were on a private jet that crashed on Wednesday shortly after taking off from Moscow with a crew of three.
Rescuers discovered ten bodies, and Russian media reported that Prigozhin was dead, citing unidentified sources in Wagner. However, there has been no official confirmation amid reports that he was in a second jet that was apparently in the region at the time.
The passenger list includes Prigozhin and his deputy, Wagner’s logistics chief, a fighter injured in US air attacks in Syria, and at least one probable bodyguard.