EX-PAL ON 'KILL LIST'

Prigozhin said to have been on crash plane

- CHRIS HUGHES

REVENGE OF PUTIN: COUP CHIEF 'DEAD'

THE finger of suspicion on Yevgeny Prigozhin's death last night was pointed at Vladimir Putin after his former friend was feared to have been killed in a plane crash.

It is believed the Russian president put the Wagner Group boss on a "kill list" weeks ago and ordered his execution for his part in a botched coup in Moscow in June.

Prigozhin, 62, may have suffered the same fate as many others who cross Putin. The notorious mercenary had criticised the Kremlin and military chiefs over the fighting in Ukraine, where his ruthless gangs were feared to have carried out war crimes.

Sources claimed he had become an "embarrassment" to the Russian regime over Wagner Group activity.

His jet came down in Russia's Bologovsky District. Prigozhin is believed to have been among 10 people killed in the crash.

There were claims by Wagner Group sources it was shot down by a Russian air defence team.

Local residents reported hearing two loud bangs before the plane crashed and burst into flames. It had only been flying for half an hour on a flight believed to have been from Moscow to St Petersburg.