Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his condolences to the victims of Wednesday’s plane crash, describing Prigozhin as a “talented businessman”
In a televised address, he said the Wagner boss “made serious mistakes in life, but also sought to achieve the necessary results”
And he warned that the investigation into the crash would take time
Authorities say all 10 people on the plane were killed when it crashed near Moscow – and that passengers included Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin
There’s continued speculation about what happened. UK defence sources have told the BBC that Russia’s FSB intelligence agency is most likely to be responsible
The Wagner mercenary group was very active in Ukraine, until Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military leadership in June – which Putin called “treachery” at the time
So – Vladimir Putin has finally broken his silence over the plane crash which is presumed to have killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine others. (The news broke around 24 hours ago.)
Although Putin paid tribute to the warlord in a televised address, you’ll notice in the transcript that we provided below that the Russian president was very precise with his choice of words. He stopped short of directly confirming Prigozhin’s death.
Putin stated there had been fatalities, saying he “would like to above all express words of the most sincere condolences to the families of all those who have died”. But he seemed to suggest it was not totally clear whether Wagner members were amongst the dead, saying only that “initial information suggests” they were on the plane.
And although he saluted to Prigozhin as a “talented businessman” with a “complicated fate”, at no point did Putin state in black and white that the Wagner founder was amongst the dead. However, he did use the past tense when speaking about the 62-year-old.
While the plane that crashed was linked to Prigozhin – and information released by Russian authorities states that he and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin were amongst seven Wagner associates killed – the BBC has been unable to verify these claims.
BBC