Russian state media has said eight bodies have been found following the crash 60 miles north of Moscow, and that the mercenary leader's name was on the passenger list - two months after his failed coup attempt against Vladimir Putin.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commander Dmitry Utkin were on board the plane that crashed north of Moscow, Russia's civil aviation authority confirmed.

Eight bodies have so far been found at the crash site by the Russian emergency services, according to the RIA state news agency.

Seven passengers and three crew were on board the Embraer aircraft and were all killed, TASS news agency reported. The plane was heading from Moscow to St Petersburg.

Prigozhin, 62, and Wagner commander Utkin, 53, were among the passengers killed in the plane crash this evening, according to a Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner Group.

Russia's civil aviation authority also confirmed that the pair had been "on board" the jet.

The jet crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino Tver region, 160 miles north of Moscow, Russia's emergency situations ministry said.

"An investigation has been launched into the Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the passenger list, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin," Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, said.

Unconfirmed media reports suggest the business jet belonged to Prigozhin, but it was not immediately clear if he had boarded thePrigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Russia's top military brass in June, and was described at the time by Vladimir Putin as a "traitor".

The Russian mercenaries surged most of the way to Moscow before Prigozhin called off the advance and ordered them to turn back to "avoid bloodshed".

The rebellion ended when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stepped in to broker a deal - which saw Prigozhin agreeing to relocate to neighbouring Belarus.

The Kremlin said his fighters would either retire, follow him there, or join the Russian military. flight.

Flight tracking data indicated that a private jet linked to Wagner and previously used by Prigozhin departed Moscow on Wednesday evening, only for its transponder signal to vanish within minutes.

The signal was lost in a remote area without nearby airfields suitable for a safe landing. A photograph shared on a pro-Wagner social media account showed burning debris, with a partial tail number resembling that of a company-owned private jet.

The colour and placement of the number on the engine of the crashed jet match other photos of the Wagner aircraft examined by the Associated Press.