Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and top officers of his private Wagner military company were presumed dead in a plane crash that was widely seen as an assassination, two months after their mutiny that dented President Vladimir Putin’s authority.

Russia’s civil aviation agency said that Prigozhin and six top lieutenants were on a business jet that crashed on Wednesday, soon after taking off from Moscow, with a crew of three. Rescuers found all 10 bodies and Wagner confirmed his death.