Russia has found 10 bodies and the flight recorders from a crashed airplane where Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to have died.
Investigators are now doing special tests on the molecules and genes. The plane crashed near Moscow on Wednesday, making people think a bomb or missile might have caused it. The Kremlin denied the claim that they ordered to kill Prigozhin.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, told the BBC that this claim was completely untrue. Prigozhin, who used to support Putin, led a failed armed rebellion with his group in June. Back then, Putin called it a betrayal. Later, they worked out a deal.
Wagner’s fighters could join Russia’s regular army or go to Belarus, which is Russia’s friend. Still, after the rebellion, many people thought Prigozhin wouldn’t be safe. They said the Russian president wouldn’t forgive him.
During a call with reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov talked to the BBC about the sad incident on Wednesday where an airplane crashed in the Tver region, northwest of Russia’s main city. Ten people lost their lives in this accident.
The passenger list showed that Prigozhin, his associate Dmitry Utkin, five other passengers, and three crew members were on the Embraer Legacy 600 jet.
Mr. Peskov said that in the Western countries, some people are guessing and talking about this incident in a particular way, which is not true. He also mentioned that they don’t have a lot of information right now. The real facts will come out when the official investigation is finished.
Even though the passenger list showed that Prigozhin was on the plane, Mr. Peskov didn’t confirm if the Kremlin was sure about this.
Because of Prigozhin’s assumed death, the future of Wagner, the group he was associated with, is uncertain. The leader of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, stated that a large number of Wagner fighters would still stay in Belarus. But some experts think that Lukashenko follows directions from the Kremlin.
For nearly a whole day, President Putin didn’t say anything about the crash. Then, he gave his sympathy to the families of the people who were on the plane.
He also said Prigozhin was a talented person, but he made big mistakes in his life.
Right after the plane crashed, many people started guessing what might have made it happen.
The Pentagon thought that the leader of the Wagner group probably died. A person from the US government told CBS News that the plane likely exploded while flying.
On Friday, President Joe Biden said the US was still trying to figure out exactly why the plane crashed.
