Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the armed uprising in Southern Russia last week, appears to have flown from Rostov to Minsk at the conclusion of the uprising on 27 June on a plane which was formerly registered at the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry.
23 August update: Reports from Russia indicate that this aircraft has crashed in the last hour:
Original article from 30 June 2023 follows:
A review of documentation provided by online sources and the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry itself shows that the aircraft was formerly registered in the Isle of Man from 2 November 2018 until 1 October 2019 as M-SAAN. The aircraft was deregistered soon after it was sanctioned by the Trump Administration in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2018 USA mid-term elections.
The aircraft – an Embraer ERJ-135 jet – is understood to be currently registered as aircraft RA-02795 in Russia, and is owned by the Wagner Group. The Wagner Group is a state-funded paramilitary organisation reported to have significant armed operations in Ukraine, Syria, Mali, and other areas affected by armed conflict.
According to the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry, the plane – registered at the time as aircraft M-SAAN – was owned by Autolex Transport when it was registered in the Isle of Man. On 30 September, 2019, the United States Department of the Treasury issued sanctions against Yevgeny Prigozhin, Autolex Transport, and the aircraft which was registered in the Isle of Man at that time.
The sanctions were imposed by the Trump administration in response to alleged Russian attempts to interfere in the 2018 US mid-term elections. When imposing the sanctions against the Isle of Man registered aircraft, US Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, said:
“Treasury is targeting the private planes, yacht, and associated front companies of Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Russian financier behind the Internet Research Agency and its attempts to subvert American democratic processes. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy, and we will use our authorities against anyone seeking to undermine our processes and subversively influence voters. This Administration will work tirelessly to safeguard our electoral process, and will aggressively pursue any other foreign actor that attempts to interfere in the 2020 elections.”
Treasury Targets Assets of Russian Financier who Attempted to Influence 2018 U.S. Elections
