FirstFT: Yevgeny Prigozhin said to be passenger in fatal plane crash

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Good morning. An aircraft said to be carrying notorious warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner group launched a failed mutiny in June, has crashed on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg, according to Russian officials.

All 10 people on the plane, including three crew members, died in the crash, Russia’s emergency ministry said, according to state newswire RIA Novosti. Russian officials said a man with Prigozhin’s name was among the passengers, without elaborating further.

Grey Zone, a Wagner-connected Telegram channel, also reported Prigozhin’s death late on Wednesday: “The head of the Wagner Group, a hero of Russia and true patriot . . . died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia.” The social media account also claimed Russian anti-aircraft defences had shot down the plane.

US president Joe Biden told reporters he did not “know for a fact what happened” but was “not surprised”. He added: “Not much happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.” Here are more details on this developing story.

And here are two more stories I recommend on Russia and its war in Ukraine:

• ‘General Armageddon’ fired: Russia’s army has dismissed Sergei Surovikin, a prominent general, as head of its aerospace forces amid a crackdown on potential Wagner sympathisers following the paramilitary group’s failed mutiny in June.

• Proposed asset swap: Russia is offering to swap western investors’ stranded assets in the country for some Russian assets frozen by the west following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

Five more top stories

1. India has landed an uncrewed spacecraft near the Moon’s unexplored South Pole, a milestone in the country’s efforts to become an international power in space exploration. Wednesday’s successful landing made India the first country to reach the Moon’s South Pole, and came days after a Russian attempt to land in the uncharted region ended in failure. Read more on the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.

2. Singapore authorities have requested documents from at least 10 banks as they widen one of the city-state’s biggest-ever money laundering and fraud investigations. Public prosecutors told a court on Wednesday that they were seeking documents from financial institutions used by 10 people who were arrested last week and charged in the $1bn (US$737mn) money laundering and fraud case. Here’s what we know.

3. Nvidia’s revenue more than doubled in the latest quarter on soaring demand for the chips needed to train the latest artificial intelligence models, outstripping even the heightened estimates that had spread on Wall Street in recent days. Read more on the AI chipmaker’s results.

4. Apollo Global Management has been sued over a $570mn tax payout to its top executives as part of a shake-up aimed at distancing the private equity firm from its scandal-plagued founder Leon Black. A shareholder lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleged that Black and his co-founders, Marc Rowan and Josh Harris, “concocted a series of untenable justifications” for the windfall payout. Here are more details on the lawsuit.

5. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is set to invest $1bn in Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s retail unit, valuing the shopping company at $100bn. The $450bn Qatar Investment Authority would take a 0.99 per cent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, the Reliance Industries subsidiary announced, as it bets on India’s middle class growing more prosperous.

The Big Read

Buoyed by petrodollar windfalls, oil-rich Gulf states are determined to chart their own courses in an era of polarising, shifting global dynamics. At the forefront are Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, and the United Arab Emirates, the region’s dominant trade hub. The common theme in both Gulf powerhouses is one of self-assured, assertive leaders who are redefining their relationship with the US and increasingly turning to Asia.

We’re also reading . . . 

• South Korean business: Prosecutor-turned-president Yoon Suk Yeol — once famous for investigating corporate malfeasance — has pardoned convicted company leaders while in office. But the state has intervened elsewhere.

• Neurotech: Researchers have developed brain implants that they say are much more effective than previous devices at giving a voice to people who cannot speak.

• Gillian Tett: The ability of some wealthy US families to gain privileged access to elite universities is one example of our deeply tangled thinking about “gifts”.

Chart of the day

Global stock markets have lost about $3tn in value this month, as a “witches’ brew” of gloomy Chinese economic data and surging US borrowing costs sour investor sentiment after a bumper start to the year.

Take a break from the news

Jérôme Haslin is Michelin’s chief test driver, tasked with developing new rubber for the wheels of cars built by clients including Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche. The “king of tread” takes the FT’s Charlie Thomas ice drifting at Michelin’s Arctic Proving Ground in Ivalo, Finland in this thrill of a read.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Leah Quinn