Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the list of passengers on an aircraft that crashed in the Tver Region, Russian authorities say.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry has said that private aircraft “came down” near the village of Kuzhenkino – and all were killed
The ministry says the jet was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, and that 10 people, including three crew members, were on board
Prigozhin has been keeping a low public profile since heading his short-lived mutiny in June, which lasted only 24 hours
He last appearing in a video earlier this week which was said to have been filmed in an unspecified location in Africa.
Many experts have been speculating how long Prigozhin could survive following his Wagner group’s failed rebellion in June, according to deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, Orysia Lutsevych.
“It’s clear he has been a traitor,” she told the BBC.
“It seems like he has played a price for it.”
Lutsevych said Prigozhin and those supporting him, including people within the security services and military intelligence, wanted a “different type of trajectory” for the Ukraine war from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies.
“It is clear Putin is not secure in his position, because Russia is taking heavy losses,” she said, adding that Prigozhin could have challenged him.
Speculation on Telegram channels suggested the crashed plane was an Embraer Legacy jet with the serial number RA-02795.
Tracking data on FlightRadar24 – a popular flight tracking website – does not show where it departed from.
Earlier today it appeared near Moscow, where it climbed to an altitude of nearly 29,000ft (8,800m) before the data showed it suddenly dropping, ending up at 0ft.
The plane is registered to Autolex Transport, which the US government has linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The plane’s flight records are now partially inaccessible through FlightRadar24.
But it has made several journeys to and from Moscow and St Petersburg in recent months, and has been pictured by local media in Belarus, where the Wagner group is now thought to be based.