A satellite has spotted the wreckage of the plane that went down in northwestern Russia on Wednesday (Aug. 23), apparently with Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin on board.
The plane, an executive jet built by Brazilian company Embraer, was flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg when it went down. Prigozhin was on the passenger list, as were another top-level members of the Wagner Group, the private military company that Prighozin led. There have been no survivors, in accordance with Russian officials.
On Thursday (Aug. 24), a satellite operated by San Francisco-based company Planet snapped a photograph of the crash site, which is a grassy area surrounded by trees. The destroyed plane is clearly visible within the shot, as are several dozen vehicles, that are likely a part of the recovery and investigative effort.
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That investigation could be very much open in the meanwhile, because the reason for the crash stays unknown. Nevertheless it may not have been an accident.
“The Baza news outlet, which has good sources amongst law enforcement agencies, reported that investigators were specializing in a theory that one or two bombs can have been planted on board,” Reuters reported on Thursday.
U.S. officials also consider a strike by a surface-to-air missile a possibility at this point, Reuters added.
Foul play will surely not be shocking, given the character of Prighozin’s work — and the strange and dramatic turn it took recently.
The Wagner Group has long acted as an arm of the Russian military, fighting in a variety of conflicts world wide, including the continued invasion of Ukraine. In late June, nonetheless, Prighozhin led a mutiny against the Russian armed forces and threatened to march his troops on Moscow.
Prighozin ended up standing down from that threat, however the riot actually complicated his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I had known Prigozhin for a really very long time, because the start of the ’90s,” Putin said during televised remarks after the plane crash, in accordance with Reuters. “He was a person with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life.”
Planet is best known for its constellation of Dove cubesats, which may resolve features as small as 10 feet (3 meters) on Earth’s surface. But Thursday’s photo was taken by a SkySat, a minifridge-sized craft with even sharper eyes: SkySats have a resolution of about 28 inches (72 centimeters).