Russian Investigative Committee confirms Prigozhin's death by DNA test

The Investigative Committee of Russia has completed its investigation on Sunday after the plane crash in the Tver region in which the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeni Prigozhin, was traveling, and has confirmed his death through a DNA test.

"In the framework of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular genetic examinations have been completed. Based on their results, the identities of the ten deceased have been established, corresponding to the list on the sheet flight," he said in a statement collected by the TASS news agency.

The Russian authorities recovered the black boxes from the crashed plane this Wednesday together with important objects and documentation to establish the circumstances surrounding the accident, while they also rescued the ten bodies of the victims.

Nine other people were traveling with Prigozhin, including Dimitri Utkin, another of the Wagner Group's strongmen, as well as Sergei Propustin, Evgenii Makarian, Aleksandr Totmin, Valerii Chekalov and Nikolai Matuseev.

Among the crew were captain Alexei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and stewardess Kristina Raspopova, according to the list released by the Federal Air Transport Agency, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the crash of the plane, although the United States points out that the incident could have been caused by an explosion on board. However, Pentagon sources allude to the fact that it is "unlikely" that Russian forces brought down the device with a missile.

The head of the Wagner Group lost his life exactly two months after his mercenaries launched an unprecedented rebellion against the Russian military leadership, which resulted in a step back from Prigozhin and the transfer of these troops to Belarus.