Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first public comments after the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after he was presumed to have died in a plane crash north of Moscow on Wednesday.
Russia’s civilian aviation agency said both Mr. Prigozhin and Wagner commander and co-founder Dmitry Utkin were listed as passengers on the jet. Eight other people died in the crash.
“He made serious mistakes in his life,” Mr. Putin said, according to reports. However, he said that the mercenary chief “achieved the necessary results in his life, both for himself and when I asked him to do so for the common goal.”
Russian investigators opened a criminal probe but there has been no official word from Moscow on what may have caused Wednesday evening’s crash. Until Mr. Putin’s comments there had been no official confirmation of Mr. Prigozhin’s death beyond a statement from the aviation authority saying he was on board.
Mr. Putin also described the Wagner boss as a talented businessman whom he had known since the 1990s. “He worked not only in our country ... but also abroad. In Africa in particular,” he said.
Mr. Putin did not acknowledge the international speculation that the Russian government may have been involved in the mercenary leader’s death and plane crash. He gave assurance that an investigation is underway.
“As far as I know, it was only yesterday that he got back from Africa. He met some officials here. But what is absolutely clear—the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning, they have already launched a preliminary investigation into this incident. And it will be carried out in full and to the end,” Mr. Putin said. “There is no doubt about that here. Let’s see what the investigators say in the near future. Tests—technical and genetic tests—are being carried out now. This takes some time.”
The private jet was traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg when it went down in the Tver region, federal agencies told the state-run TASS news agency.
A Telegram channel, Grey Zone, which some say is linked to Wagner, claimed that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems “from the Russian Defense Ministry in the Bologovsky district of the Tver region.”
“Before the plane crash, local residents listened to two bursts of characteristic air defense, and this is confirmed by contrails in the sky in one of the videos, as well as the words of direct eyewitnesses,” the channel stated. The Epoch Times could not immediately verify those claims.
Some government officials also speculated that the Russian government was behind the plane crash. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied any involvement in the death.
“We are not involved in this situation, that’s for sure,” he said Thursday. “I think everyone is aware of who is involved.”
President Joe Biden, prominent Russia critic Bill Browder, and Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak have all suggested they believe the Kremlin was involved in the crash.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) and the Kremlin have been destroying the Wagner private military company (PMC) and weakening Prigozhin’s authority since the rebellion—and the assassination of Wagner’s top leadership was likely the final step to eliminate Wagner as an independent organization,” a Washington-based think thank, the Study of War, said in a Thursday report.
Mr. Prigozhin “was likely attempting to counter the Russian MOD’s and the Kremlin’s destruction of Wagner,” the think tank said, noting that Wagner’s future is now up in the air.
Residents in the village of Kuzhenkino, meanwhile, said they heard a bang before the plane fell to the ground.
“I heard an explosion or a bang,” Vitaly Stepenok, 72, told the Reuters news agency. “Usually, if an explosion happens on the ground then you get an echo, but it was just a bang and I looked up and saw white smoke.”
He added that a “wing flew off in one direction,” which is when the plane “glided down on one wing.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Prigozhin launched what some called a rebellion against the Russian government after criticizing Russia’s military tactics during the Ukraine war. He had also attempted to oust Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as well as Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff.
The mutiny, which was Wagner forces move quickly across Russia, was ended by an apparent Kremlin deal that saw Mr. Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighboring Belarus. But he had appeared to move freely inside Russia.
Mr. Prigozhin posted a video address on Monday which he suggested was made in Africa. He turned up at a Russia–Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July.
