Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin reported dead

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is presumed dead after reports suggested his name was on the passenger list of a plane that crashed in Russia, with all on board understood to have been killed in the crash.

It is believed the Wagner leader was on board the plane which was reportedly filmed as it plunged from the air in the Bologovsky district in the Tver region in Russia, media reports suggest.

The Wagner Group is a private Russian military organisation that has been active in Syria, Libya and Sudan, as well as Ukraine since the war broke out in the east of the country in 2014.

The group has long been headed by Prigozhin who had held close ties to President Putin but tensions between the group's chief and Moscow have mounted in recent months.

The mercenary group played a key role in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in June, the group left Ukraine to march on Moscow in what at the time appeared to be an attempted coup.

Prigozhin had only this week made a public statement for the first time since his apparent attempted June mutiny, as he emerged in Africa.

In a short video posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said the Wagner Group was bringing justice and happiness to the African people.

Reports said he arrived in Mali in mid-August and was trying to do a deal with the leaders of the coup in Niger.

The aircraft on which he was said to be on board was reportedly in the air for less than half an hour before it crashed, according to reports by Russia's Tass news agency.