“Absolute lie”: Kremlin denies involvement in death of mercenary leader Prigozhin
Vladimir Putin condoled to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s family
© Mikhail Klimentyev / AFP
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov has described speculation that the Kremlin had Yevgeny Prigozhin murdered as an “absolute lie”. In the meantime, the Russian authorities have initiated investigations into the crash of the plane in which the mercenary leader was sitting.
Two days after the alleged death of the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Russia, the Kremlin has denied any involvement of President Vladimir Putin in the case. “This is an absolute lie,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. The case must be treated “on the basis of facts”. Meanwhile, Putin signed a decree requiring members of Russian paramilitary organizations such as the Wagner mercenary group to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian state.
In Ukraine and in the West, it is suspected that the Kremlin wanted to eliminate the disgraced Prigozhin. There is currently “a lot of speculation,” said Peskow. Investigations into the alleged death of the head of the Wagner mercenary troop were ongoing.
Vladimir Putin: Prigozhin was a “capable” man
Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who is closely allied with Putin, said that he did not think it possible that the Russian president was behind Prigozhin’s alleged death. The plane crash was “too crude and unprofessional work” for Putin to be behind.
Putin himself, who had called Prigozhin a traitor two months ago because of an armed rebellion, spoke about the mercenary leader in the past tense on Thursday evening. This was a “capable” man who made “serious mistakes”.
On Friday, Putin signed a decree requiring members of Russian paramilitary organizations to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian state and to “strictly follow the orders of commanders and superiors.”
The Belarusian ruler Lukashenko emphasized that even after Prigozhin’s death, thousands of Wagner fighters should remain in his country. The “core” of the Wagner group will be in Belarus, within “a few days” “everyone will be there, up to 10,000 people,” he said on Friday, according to the Belarusian state news agency Belta. Prigozchin and he had “already set up a system” for the stationing of the Wagner group, with which “everything was regulated”. Lukashenko did not give any more precise information about the goal and duration of the mission in Belarus.
The federal government has no findings of its own
According to Russian authorities, all ten occupants died in the crash of a private plane in the Tver region of Russia on Wednesday evening. According to the authorities, Wagner boss Prigozhin was on the passenger list, as was his deputy Dmitri Utkin. Genetic analysis to identify the bodies is ongoing.
The Russian investigative committee responsible for serious crimes launched investigations into “violations of air traffic safety regulations”. Since then, the investigators have not commented; there is speculation about a possible assassination.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the US military had “no information to suggest a surface-to-air missile caused the crash.” “In our estimation (…) he (Prigozhin) was probably killed,” Ryder explained.
In Berlin, Deputy Government Spokesman Wolfgang Büchner pointed out that the federal government had no knowledge of its own about Prigozhin’s fate. “But a violent end to Prigozchin would not be particularly surprising,” said Büchner.
Exactly two months before the plane crash, Prigozhin had his mercenaries march towards Moscow in an uprising. According to Prigozhin, the aim was to overthrow the Russian army leadership and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. After a day, however, the car boss called off the uprising, in return for which he was assured of impunity.
Up until the brief rebellion, the Wagner group had played a major role in the Russian offensive against Ukraine – most notably in the battle for Bakhmut.