The Kremlin has denied ordering the killing of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, as Russia said its air defences had intercepted 42 Ukrainian drones fired at occupied Crimea in one of the biggest such attacks of the neighbours’ war.
Mr Prigozhin and nine other people are believed to have been killed on Wednesday when a private jet flying from Moscow to Saint Petersburg plunged to earth, two months after Wagner staged a brief uprising and threatened to march on Moscow. Several other senior members of the group are thought to have died on the plane, along with three crew members.
“Now, naturally, there is much speculation over this plane crash and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, in the West this speculation is coming from a certain angle. All of it is absolute lies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
“In covering this issue, it is essential to work solely from facts. There are not many of them yet, because they have yet to be established during investigative work that is now taking place,” he added, noting that Russian president Vladimir Putin had said on Thursday that “he was waiting for the results of the investigation” before drawing conclusions.
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However, the Russian leader of two decades expressed condolences to relatives of the crash victims and described Mr Prigozhin as a man with a “complex fate” who had “made some serious mistakes in life”, but also “achieved the necessary results both for himself and – when I requested it of him – for the common goal”.
The Wagner group recruited thousands of convicts from Russian jails to hurl into battle in eastern Ukraine, where at huge cost they took the ruined city of Bakhmut in May. While avoiding direct criticism of Mr Putin, Mr Prigozhin often lambasted Russia’s military leaders, culminating in what he called a “march of justice” towards Moscow on June 24th.
The revolt lasted for only one day, during which Wagner forces seized the southern Russian city of Rostov and downed several Russian military aircraft, killing their crews. The Kremlin said afterwards that Mr Prigozhin would go into exile in neighbouring Belarus – where some Wagner units set up camp last month – but he continued to spend time in Russia.
Mr Peskov said he did not know whether Mr Putin would attend the funeral of Mr Prigozhin, who became known as “Putin’s chef” after his catering firm was given lucrative contracts to make food for the Kremlin, the Russian military and other state clients.
“There are no dates for the funeral yet, it is impossible to talk about it at all. The only thing I can say is that the president has a rather busy schedule at the moment,” Mr Peskov said, noting that there was still no official confirmation that Mr Prigozhin was dead.
“If you listened carefully to [Mr Putin’s] statement, he said that all necessary tests, including genetic tests, will now be carried out. The official results – as soon as they are ready to be published, will be published,” he added.
Western security services have little doubt that Mr Prigozhin was on the plane, but have not said how it was brought down, with theories including missile fire or an onboard bomb.
Russia’s military said on Friday that it shot down or jammed 42 Ukrainian attack drones fired at occupied Crimea and a Ukrainian missile that was intercepted in the Kaluga province that borders Moscow region.
Ukraine said it shot down four missiles fired at Odesa region on the Black Sea, where Russia has been targeting grain export and shipping infrastructure for several weeks.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023
