Kremlin hints Yevgeny Prigozhin may have been assassinated and his plane downed on purpose
Barnini Chakraborty
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The Kremlin acknowledged on Wednesday that the plane carrying Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin may have been downed on purpose but stopped short of allowing international investigators to probe the crash and alleged assassination.
“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version, you know what we are talking about, let’s say, a deliberate atrocity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during his daily call.
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Peskov added that the circumstances surrounding the Aug. 23 crash prevented Russia from allowing the incident to be investigated under international regulations. He said the Russian Investigative Committee had not concluded its probe into what may have taken place.
“Let’s wait for the results of our Russian investigation,” he said.
Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, launched a failed mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership in June.
He and nine others, including top leaders from his private military company, Wagner, were killed last Wednesday when their private jet crashed northwest of Moscow. There has been wide speculation that Prigozhin was assassinated for his armed rebellion that challenged Putin’s authority, though the Kremlin has denied any involvement.
One anonymous U.S. official told the Associated Press that Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted and that the incident lines up with Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.”
President Joe Biden said he believed there was some merit to allegations Putin was behind the crash.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” Biden said. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”
Ukraine, which Russia invaded last year and continues to war against, has also denied involvement.
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Prigozhin was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony in St. Petersburg. The announcement ended speculation about where and when he would be buried.
The Kremlin said it had no information about Prigozhin’s funeral, only that Putin would not be there.