Some Western countries say it is too early to draw any conclusions regarding the plane crash that killed tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin and a number of senior Wagner commanders.
“We still don’t know the full extent of this accident. We can have some reasonable suspicions,” French government spokesman Olivier Veran told France 2 television.
A British minister also said that “there should be no hasty conclusions” about anything after news that tycoon Wagner Prigozhin was suspected of being killed in the plane crash.
“We have only heard of this, it happened only a few hours ago. We are monitoring the situation very carefully. We should not jump to conclusions. We are coordinating with our allies. After assessing the situation, the government will provide more information on this matter,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that the outcome for Wagner was predictable after the failed rebellion in Russia at the end of June.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) announced on August 23 that an Embraer Legacy 600 private jet crashed in the Tver region while en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg Russia in the evening of the same day. The accident killed all 10 people on board, including boss Prigozhin and several senior Wagner commanders.
According to FlightRadar24, minutes before the crash, the plane suddenly stopped transmitting location data, possibly due to interference. In the last seconds, the plane plunged to the ground at a speed of 2,400m / min.
FlightRadar24, another plane related to Prigozhin, with tail number RA-02878, took off in Moscow shortly after the crashed plane with number RA-02795. However, plane RA-02878 returned to Moscow and landed after news of the crash. The role of this RA-02878 and those on board is unknown.
The Kremlin has so far not commented on the plane crash. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not mention this incident in his speech at an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, the 1943 victory over Nazi Germany.
Investigators from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation were at the scene of the plane crash.
The bodies of the victims were handed over to the forensic department. The pro-Kremlin TV channel Tsargrad TV, citing its own sources, said that Prigozhin’s body had been preliminarily identified, but still had to wait for DNA analysis.
Meanwhile, a reporter for Aljazeera newspaper reported from the scene that, so far, the body believed to be Prigozhin has not been found.
“Russian authorities confirmed Prigozhin was on the flight. The Russian aviation agency has released the list of passengers, including 7 Wagner members and 3 pilots. However, the investigation team has not confirmed that it has been found. Prigozhin’s body or confirm his death,” Aljazeera reported.
Earlier, Gray Zone, a Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner, confirmed that Prigozhin was killed and the plane may have been shot down.
According to Russian media, the wreckage of the plane was scattered about 2km in a field northwest of Moscow. Part of the plane’s wing was found near the entrance to Kuzhenkino village in Tver province, about 2km from where the main body of the plane crashed, RIA news agency reported.
In addition, a phone believed to belong to tycoon Prigozhin was also found at the scene.
Amidst many mysteries, Russian MP Mikhail Delyagin said that he did not believe Prigozhin was dead. “I strongly doubt Prigozhin’s death. People sometimes make up tragedies that are not real to step back,” this MP commented.
