Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to have died in a plane crash that happened on Wednesday evening.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, hit out at speculation Moscow was involved in the reported death of the leader of the Wagner Group.

Mr Peskov said allegations the Kremlin gave the order to kill Yevgeny Prigozhin are “a complete lie”.

During a press call, the spokesman described as “tragic” the reported death of the 10 people aboard a private jet that crashed down in the Tver region, some 185 miles north of Moscow, on Wednesday evening.

He noted there was "lots of speculation” about the incident, which is being investigated by the Russian civil aviation agency.

Mr Peskov then added: “In the West of course this speculation comes from a certain angle. It’s all a complete lie. Of course when we talk about this issue we should be guided only by facts.

“We don’t have many facts at the moment, the facts need to be clarified during the official investigation which is being carried out now.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Will Vernon, Mr Peskov also declined to answer whether the Kremlin could confirm Mr Prigozhin was aboard the crashed private jet, saying Moscow was awaiting the results of an ongoing investigation.

Mr Prigozhin’s name was on the passenger list of the Embraer-135 that exploded in a fireball two days ago, as were the names of Dmitry Utkin, believed to have founded Wagner and named the group after his call name, and Valery Chekalov, the reported logistics and security head of the mercenary group.

Full list of people aboard the private jet that crashed near Moscow

The Russian Aviation Agency – Rosaviatsia – has shared the full list of people aboard the Embraer-135 private jet.

The passengers named by the official agency were:

Propustin Sergey;

Makaryan Evgeniy;

Totmin Alexander;

Chekalov Valeriy;

Utkin Dmitry;

Matuseev Nikolay;

Prigozhin Evgeniy.

The name of the crewmembers listed by the agency were:

Levshin Aleksei, commander;

Karimov Rustam, co-pilot;

Raspopova Kristina, flight attendant.

Their deaths haven't yet been officially confirmed, although Telegram channels close to Wagner have already paid tribute to them, and many members of the group have been heading to makeshift shrines for Mr Utkin and Mr Prigozhin.

In its latest intelligence assessment, the British Ministry of Defence conceded “there is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard” the jet, adding “he is known to exercise exceptional security measures”. However, the update read: “It is highly likely that he is indeed dead.”

Speculation surrounding the Kremlin’s involvement in the plane crash has been swirling since Wednesday afternoon, with many backing this theory.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden heavily hinted he believed Vladimir Putin was involved in the crash, as he said: “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”

In a video shared on Thursday, the pro-Ukraine Russian Volunteer Corps urged Wagner soldiers to turn cloak and fight the Russian army after their leaders had been “cynically executed”.

Ukraine’s presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said the plane crash, which happened exactly two months after Wagner forces marched on Moscow, “a signal from Putin to Russia’s elites ahead of the 2024 elections”.

Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak also agreed the plane crash was linked to the Kremlin and marked an “absolutely clear signal to all the elites, in fact”. She added: “To everyone who had any seditious thoughts.” (The Express, UK: Text, Excluding Headline)

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