"As part of the investigation of the plane crash in Tver region, molecular genetic examinations have been completed...The identities of all ten of the dead have been established. They correspond to the flight manifest," an Investigative Committee spokeswoman said Sunday, Sputnik reported.
A business jet carrying Prigozhin went down near a remote town in Russia's Tver region on Wednesday evening. Russian aviation authorities and law enforcement, including the Investigative Committee, launched probes into the incident.
Prigozhin, his deputy, Dmitry Utkin (call sign 'Wagner'), five other passengers and three crew were killed in the crash. On Friday, investigators confirmed that the remains of all 10 persons onboard the plane had been recovered, and that the flight recorders were found.
After the crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin characterized Prigozhin as a "man with a difficult fate" and someone who had "made serious mistakes," but also praised him and Wagner for their "significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine."
Some Western leaders and media jumped to accuse Putin of responsibility for Prigozhin's death, citing the latter's role in June's mutiny attempt. The Kremlin and President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus - who helped defuse the mutiny attempt, vocally dismissed these allegations. Prigozhin himself said repeatedly, including during June's events, that he remained loyal to Putin as Russia's commander-in-chief, and that his beef was with the Defense Ministry's leadership.
MNA/PR
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