Telegram channels report that investigators suspect a bomb in the landing gear of Prigozhin’s plane and have a first suspect

Russian investigators are reportedly considering the possibility that a bomb was placed in the landing-gear bay of the plane that crashed outside Moscow on Wednesday, killing mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine other people. According to the Telegram channel Shot and its law-enforcement sources, preliminary data suggest that the explosion that disrupted the aircraft’s flight occurred near the landing gear. The blast reportedly ripped off the wing, which then hit the plane’s stabilizer, causing the jet to climb sharply before it went into a tailspin.

Investigators also reportedly have their first suspect in the plane crash: Artem Stepanov, Prigozhin’s personal pilot and the former founding shareholder of MNT-Aero, the company that owns the downed aircraft.

VChK OGPU, another Telegram channel that often publishes information allegedly from sources in Russia’s police and military agencies, reports that Stepanov had access to the plane and is now wanted by the police. According to VChK OGPU, Stepanov left for Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East before the crash. His brother told the Telegram channel that he’s been offline for the past three days. Meanwhile, MNT-Aero’s nominal owner, Olga Gubareva, and Stepanov’s business partner, Kirill Shcherbakov, are also not answering calls.

Both reports by Shot and VChK OGPU still lack official confirmation.

The St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka, which has extensively covered Prigozhin over the years, reports that the bodies recovered from the crash site were too badly burned to allow visual identification, but sources told the publication that “indirect signs” indicate that Prigozhin was among the dead.