Russia’s investigators confirm Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in last week’s plane crash

Russia’s investigators confirm that Wagner mercenary chief Vevgeny Prigozhin died in last Wednesday’s plane crash.(AP)

Russia’s Investigation Committee says genetic tests have confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the 10 people who died in a plane crash last Wednesday.

Mr Prigozhin, 62, was the founder of the Wagner mercenary group who led an abortive mutiny against Russia’s army in June.

Mr Prigozhin’s private crashed north-west of Moscow, killing all those on board.

The Kremlin denied that it was to blame for the incident.

“As part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular-genetic examinations have been completed,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on its site on the Telegram messaging app.

“According to their results, the identities of all 10 dead were established. They correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet,” it said.

Other victims were from the Wagner group, including Dmitry Utkin, who managed the mercenary group’s military operations.

The private jet crashed two months to the day after Mr Prigozhin’s armed revolt in the southern city of Rostov, with a threat to march on Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin described the mutiny as a treacherous “stab in the back”, but later met with Mr Prigozhin in the Kremlin.

The brief uprising posed the biggest challenge to Mr Putin’s authority of his 23-year rule.

He sent his condolences on Thursday to the families of those the aviation agency said had died in the crash.