Image Source: Agencies

After the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed on Sunday that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had died in a plane crash, his followers faced speculation that the top commander of Wagner's private military company, Anton Elizarov, nicknamed "Hope", could succeed Prigozh- on as a leader.

Elizarov reportedly led Wagner's operations in Soledar and Bahmut and also served in Syria, Libya, and the Central African Republic. He is said to have created Wagner's combat training programs as a former Russian Army Air Force soldier.
The Russian Investigative Committee wrote in Telegram that the identities of all 10 people who died in the plane crash match the flight manifest. "Molecular genetic studies were completed as part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region. Based on these results, the identities of all 10 victims were identified, they correspond to the list in the flight log, the commission wrote in Telegram. According to the list of names published by the Russian Federal Aviation Administration, Prigozhin, head of the private military company Wagner Group, was among the ten dead.