2023 Wagner Group plane crash
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)
The Embraer Legacy 600 is a business jet derivative of the Embraer ERJ family of commercial jet aircraft.
Embraer Legacy 600
Legacy 650 interior
Legacy 600 Cockpit