On 23 September 2023, an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed at Gao International Airport, Mali after overrunning the runway. The crash reportedly killed up to 140 people. If confirmed, this would make it the deadliest aircraft disaster in the history of Mali, surpassing Air Algérie Flight 5017 in 2014, as well as the deadliest plane crash in 2023, surpassing Yeti Airlines Flight 691.
TZ-98T, the Ilyushin Il-76TD involved in the accident, pictured under a previous registration in 2016
On 23 August 2023, an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet crashed near Kuzhenkino in Tver Oblast, approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) north of its departure point in Moscow. Among the ten victims were Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, the key figures of the Wagner Group, a Russian state-funded private military company. The crash prompted speculation that the jet was destroyed on the orders of Russian president Vladimir Putin, after Prigozhin had led the Wagner Group rebellion exactly two months prior.
The aircraft involved in the crash, pictured in 2022
Putin's right-hand man Nikolai Patrushev (left) is believed to have orchestrated the assassination of Yevgeny Prigozhin
Makeshift memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin in Moscow
Image: Yevgeny Prigozhin (13 06 2023)