t is “highly likely” that the chief of the Wagner mercenary group who challenged the Kremlin in a failed mutiny is lifeless, the UK Government has stated.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) cautioned that there's “not yet definitive proof” that Yevgeny Prigozhin was onboard a airplane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, however concluded his presumed demise is credible.

Russian authorities stated the non-public jet was carrying the Wagner chief and a few of his high lieutenants and everybody on board was killed when it went down.

There shouldn't be but definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he's recognized to train distinctive safety measures. However, it's extremely possible that he's certainly lifeless

In its each day intelligence replace on Friday, the MoD stated: “On 23 August 2023, exactly two months after the Wagner Group’s mutiny, a Wagner-associated Embraer business jet crashed near Tver, between Moscow and St Petersburg.

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“The Russian authorities claim 10 people on board died, including Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures.

“However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead.”

His dying “would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect” on his non-public army, with the reported deaths of Wagner’s second-in-command Dimitry Utkin and logistics chief Valery Chekalov compounding a “leadership vacuum”, the MoD stated on Twitter, now generally known as X.

It added: “His personal attributes of hyper-activity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor.”

There is heavy hypothesis, however no proof, that Mr Prigozhin was killed as an act of vengeance for mounting a short-lived rise up in June that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority.

But Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected allegations the Kremlin was behind the crash as a “complete lie”.

Russian authorities investigating the crash haven't but formally confirmed the identities of the ten our bodies pulled from the wreckage.

After 24 hours of silence, Mr Putin on Thursday despatched “sincere condolences” to the kin of these on the jet and described Mr Prigozhin as a “talented businessman” who had, nevertheless, “made serious mistakes in life”.

Mr Prigozhin was a key ally of the Russian president however their relationship soured after the Wagner boss staged the aborted rebellion in opposition to Moscow’s army management over dissatisfaction concerning the therapy of his fighters in Ukraine.

Many observers anticipated Mr Putin to hunt revenge regardless of his vow to drop fees in opposition to Mr Prigozhin after initially denouncing the rise up as treason.

Videos and pictures circulating on social media appeared to indicate the airplane plummeting out of the sky and a burning heap of plane wreckage.

A preliminary US intelligence evaluation concluded the plane was introduced down by an intentional explosion, the Associated Press reported.

The Russian state has a historical past of hyperlinks to the deaths or critical diseases of Russian elites and spies who've fallen out of favour with the Putin regime, together with on UK soil.