The First Suspect Emerges in the Crash of Prigozhin's Plane

The Telegram channel "ВЧК-ОГПУ" claims, citing anonymous sources, that the first suspect has emerged in the crash of the plane belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, and it is Prigozhin's personal pilot, Artyom Stepanov.

Stepanov is a former founder of "МНТ Аэро," the official owner of the crashed aircraft. He had access to that plane. Reports state that law enforcement agencies are unable to locate Stepanov; it is known that he departed for Kamchatka shortly before the explosion. His brother has reported that Stepanov has been in an expedition with his wife and her brother for three days and is unreachable by mobile phone.

The nominal owner of "МНТ Аэро," Olga Gubareva, is also on vacation in the Caucasus and is not answering her phone, adds "ВЧК-ОГПУ." Stepanov's colleague, Kirill Shcherbakov, is also unavailable and has not reported to work in Moscow City for a long time.

The Telegram channel Shot, citing a source, claims that the investigation is considering the theory that an explosive device was installed in the aircraft’s chassis.

As of now, there has been no official confirmation of the information published by Telegram channels.