Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin suggested the plane crash which reportedly killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was caused by a drunk crew member accidentally detonating a hand grenade rather than by a missile strike. He suggested the crew of the flight or members of the Wagner Group may have been high or drunk when they set the grenades off, citing their alleged history of engaging in illicit activity.
He claimed grenade fragments were found in the corpses of the wreckage and that the exterior of the aircraft showed no signs of external damage.
Putin alleges Prigozhin's plane crashed because Wagner leadership got drunk, accidentally setting off a grenade during the flight:
Translation from Sochi press conference footage provided by https://t.co/JqSM5ckqp1 pic.twitter.com/HTNX5okAE2
— Valuetainment Media (@ValuetainmentTV) October 5, 2023
“I know there is probably a question hanging in the air about what happened to [the Wagner Group’s] management and so on, but we know about the plane crash, the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me just the other day that fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash,” he said.
“There was no external impact on the airplane,” Putin went on. “This is an established fact, the result of the examination conducted by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. But, [while] the investigation is not completed, yes, unfortunately, the presence of alcohol or drugs in the blood of the dead, the examination was not conducted, although we know that after the famous events in the company in St. Petersburg, the FSB found not only ten billion in cash, but also five kilograms of cocaine. But I repeat once again, in my opinion, such an examination should have been carried out, but it was not carried out. What is there, I have told you. And I want to say right away, I asked the representative of the Investigative Committee whether this can be said publicly, and he said yes, it can, it is an established fact.”
A preliminary investigation by U.S. intelligence has claimed that the plane crash resulted from an “intentional explosion,” and a Western official said Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted as part of Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.” Meanwhile, the Kremlin replied it is an “absolute lie” that Russia was behind the crash. The official Russian investigation has not released its findings, and the Russian state rejected an offer from Brazil, where the plane was built, to help investigate it.
When speaking about Prigozhin’s death for the first time, Putin described Prigozhin as “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life.”
Putin broke his silence Thursday on Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a private plane crash in Russia's Tver region.
"He was a man of difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life," he said https://t.co/Gve4MSL5x2 pic.twitter.com/WulneVekiD
— Bloomberg (@business) August 24, 2023
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