25 agos 2023 anni - Express Digest: Contradictory accounts about visitors onboard the airplane before flight. **See images**

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**Story contains identifying images, like Prigozhin's missing finger, the flight attendant who died in the crash, and a partial aircraft identification number on the crashed jet's engine. RA-02795**

New clues point to bomb on board Yevgeny Prigozhin plane: Jet owners say no repairs were carried out despite stewardess revealing last-minute ‘maintenance’ – as video emerges of ‘security breach on day of the crash’

Fresh clues in the mystery surrounding Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crash suggest that a bomb was planted onboard the private jet.

The owners of the aircraft, Brazilian company Embraer, revealed there have been no repairs carried out on the plane since 2019 because of international sanctions that have blocked Western manufacturers from providing parts or support for planes operated in Russia.

But this contradicts the testimony of a stewardess, one of the ten people on board the stricken plane, who told relatives prior to the aircraft’s takeoff from Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport that the flight had been delayed due to a technical inspection – adding to suspicions the plane may have been tampered with.

And adding to the speculation further, video has emerged which appears to show people posing as ‘potential buyers’ onboard what is said to be Prigozhin’s private jet in the hours before takeoff in a ‘serious security breach’.

They were registered as passengers of the private jet in order to be let through by airport security and then claimed they were ‘potential buyers’, according to VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which is considered to have close ties to Russian security forces.

The potential buyers – including a woman with a handbag – reportedly had access to the plane for around one hour from 9.30am to 10.30am on Wednesday morning just hours before it crashed in the early evening.

Prigozhin has been listed as one of the 10 passengers onboard the doomed plane that crashed into a ball of flames, killing all on board, by Russian authorities. And last night, Vladimir Putin broke his nearly 24 hours of silence to ‘express his condolences’ to those who died, describing Prigozhin as a man ‘who made serious mistakes in life’.

Fresh clues in the mystery surrounding the horrific plane crash believed to have killed Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin have suggested that a bomb was planted onboard the private jet. Pictured: The burning wreckage of the plane on Wednesday

Video has emerged which appears to show people posing as ‘potential buyers’ onboard what is said to be Prigozhin’s private jet in the hours before takeoff in a ‘serious security breach’

Stewardess Kristina Raspopova, who perished in the crash, had later reportedly told her family the plane had been delayed from taking off due to a technical inspection and undisclosed repairs.


Prigozhin has been listed as one of the 10 passengers onboard the doomed plane that crashed into a ball of flames, killing all on board, by Russian authorities
Prigozhin has been listed as one of the 10 passengers onboard the doomed plane that crashed into a ball of flames, killing all on board, by Russian authorities

It comes as a preliminary US intelligence assessment found the crash was caused by an intentional explosion, but the Pentagon says there is no evidence so far which points to a surface-to-air defence missile.

Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, offered no further details or evidence as he made his remarks at a Pentagon news conference.

Western officials have said Prigozhin was ‘very likely’ targeted, pointing towards a bomb concealed on board or intentional sabotage of the jet, although Ryder refused to comment on whether the incident was an assassination plot.

And Russian outlet Baza, publishing schematics of the plane, pointed to a service compartment near the bathroom in the tail section of the aircraft behind the wings represented an ideal place to conceal a bomb.

It contended the theories that Prigozhin’s Embraer Legacy 600 jet was shot down by an air defence missile are likely false, pointing out there were no visible rocket contrails or exhaust plumes in the skies around the crash site.

And eyewitnesses from the town of Kuzhenkino close to the location of the crash said they saw the jet explode in the sky before tumbling to the earth, but did not report any missile strike.

It comes as it emerged that a major security breach occurred at the airport in the hours before the crash involving people posing as potential buyers, according to Russian Telegram reports.

The potential buyers, who had reportedly claimed to be involved in a £4.29 million deal, are said to have arrived at the airport in a Mercedes and went through the metal detectors inside.

‘The technician only had a phone with him, and the woman had a handbag. Having examined the outside and inside the plane [for around an hour], they calmly left the aircraft. Soon Prigozhin, Utkin and others entered the plane. There was an explosion in the air,’ VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reported.

It comes as stewardess Kristina Raspopova, who perished in the crash, had later reportedly told her family the plane had been delayed from taking off due to a technical inspection and undisclosed repairs.

But Embraer, the company that manufacturers the Legacy 600 aircraft that Prigozhin reportedly perished in, said it had not carried out any repairs on the plane due to international sanctions imposed on Russia.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Prigozhin’s body was reportedly identified by a partially missing finger after being pulled from wreckage of a plane which crashed in the Tver region of Russia, it was claimed last night, with reports suggesting a ‘bomb’ onboard was to blame.

Prigozhin received the injury to his left hand while serving time in a penal colony, the Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU said.

It added a senior Wagner commander has identified the body from the injury, as well as identifying his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin from his tattoos.

It is still unclear whether Prigozhin and several of his lieutenants have been killed, and whether it was to avenge a mutiny that challenged President Putin’s authority.


An anonymous US official said it was ‘very likely’ that Prigozhin had been targeted.

It came as two Russian media outlets with security sources inside the Kremlin claimed that possibly one or two bombs had been planted aboard the aircraft.

In unverified reports, it was claimed that the bombs had been placed at the rear of an aircraft near the toilet.

This was fueled by revelations from stewardess Kristina Raspopova, 39, who posted on social media before takeoff that her flight had been delayed due to last minute ‘repairs’. It is possible a bomb was stashed on board during this time, although this is unconfirmed.

Details of the US assessment surfaced as Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be onboard the jet and referred to ‘serious mistakes’.

The Telegram channel reported: ‘The body of Yevgeny Prigozhin was officially identified in the morgue, he was identified by one of the commanders of the PMC Wagner. The main sign was the absence of a finger.’

The founder of the Wagner military company and six other passengers were on a private jet that crashed on Wednesday soon after taking off from Moscow with a crew of three, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority.

Rescuers found 10 bodies, and Russian media cited anonymous sources in Wagner who said Prigozhin was dead. But there has been no official confirmation amid claims he may have been travelling in a second plane, which was also in the area at the time.

If the deaths are confirmed, the crash would be the most serious blow the group has ever suffered to its leadership.

The passenger manifest included Prigozhin and his second-in-command who baptised the group with his nom de guerre, as well as Wagner’s logistics chief, a fighter wounded by US air strikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard.

It was not clear why several high-ranking members of Wagner, including top leaders who are normally exceedingly careful about their security, were on the same flight. The purpose of their joint trip to St Petersburg was unknown.

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