The Russian presidency on Friday denied any involvement in the alleged death of the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a revolt against Moscow military leaders two months ago.
“This is an absolute lie,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded when asked about Western suggestions that the Russian presidency had ordered Prigozhin’s assassination.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said the issue of the crash of the plane carrying Prigozhin should be addressed “on the basis of facts”, not speculation.
“Right now there are a lot of speculations about the plane disaster and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin, and we all know what kind of speculations are going on in the West,” he said, quoted by foreign agencies.
Russian authorities said Prigozhin was on the passenger list of the plane that crashed on Wednesday, for unknown reasons, during a flight between Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the Wagner group headquarters is located.
The death of the head of the Wagner remains presumed, since DNA tests have not yet been completed to identify the bodies of the 10 people who were on board the plane.
Investigators did not comment on the tracks examined, nor did they mention a theory of a crash or of bomb, missile or pilot error.
The plane crash associated with the Wagner group immediately raised suspicions of an orchestrated assassination at the highest level of Russian power.
Senior officials in Washington, Paris, Berlin and kyiv hinted that suspicion lay squarely with the Kremlin.
US President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said he believed Putin was likely behind the crash.
“I don’t really know what happened, but I’m not surprised. Not much happens in Russia that doesn’t involve Putin,” he said at the time.
Source: TSF
