Will Russia’s Putin benefit from Prigozhin’s presumed plane crash death?

Portraits of Yevgeny Prigozhin (L) and Dmitry Utkin (R), a shadowy figure who managed Wagner's operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence, are seen at the makeshift memorial in front of the PMC Wagner office in Novosibirsk [Vladimir Nikolayev/AFP]

Kyiv, Ukraine – Yevgeny Prigozhin, the foul-mouthed chief of the Wagner private army who masterminded an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin, has not been officially pronounced dead.

Russian authorities have yet to confirm via a DNA test that the 62-year-old’s body was among the charred and mangled remnants of 10 people found in the debris of the private jet that crashed 350km (217 miles) northwest of Moscow late on Wednesday.