Death of Prigojine: Russia denies any involvement, the black boxes of the plane found

2023-08-26 05:50:43

“It is an absolute lie. At least according to the Kremlin. Through the voice of Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, Russia has formally denied the insinuations of Western leaders according to which the Russian presidency orchestrated the crash of the plane in which Yevgeny Prigojine, the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner was. and enemy of Vladimir Putin. “We must approach this problem based on facts,” assured Peskov.

The investigation could say more in the coming days, the Russian investigators having announced on Friday that they had recovered the bodies of the ten people who died in the crash, as well as the flight recorders of the device. “Molecular genetic analyzes are underway to establish their identity. The flight recorders have been seized by investigators and a detailed examination of the scene is underway,” said the Russian Investigative Committee on Telegram.

Suspicions about the Kremlin

Many critics of the Russian regime or its disgraced ex-supporters have been killed or the targets of assassination attempts. The Kremlin has always denied any involvement. “Currently, around the air disaster and the tragic deaths of passengers, in particular Yevgueni Prigojine, there is a lot of speculation and we know well in which direction we are speculating in the West”, he also said.

In Washington, Paris, Berlin or kyiv, senior officials have implied that their suspicions are focused on the Kremlin. The Pentagon, for its part, said it had “no information indicating that a surface-to-air missile” had been fired against the device, while groups on Telegram close to Wagner mention this track.

According to Peskov, the investigation into the causes of the plane’s crash is continuing. Genetic expertise is carried out to identify the bodies of the seven passengers and three crew members. The investigators for their part said nothing about the tracks examined, evoking neither the thesis of the accident, nor that of a bomb, nor that of a surface-to-air missile, nor that of a pilot error. . Referring to the investigation, Vladimir Putin promised that it would be conducted “in its entirety” and that it would lead to a conclusion.

Prigozhin’s right arm

Among the alleged victims is Prigozhin’s right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, a former officer of a special military intelligence unit and operational commander of Wagner.

As a reminder, Vladimir Putin considered Prigojine, whom he had known since the 1990s, as a traitor because of his armed rebellion on June 23 and 24. But he still paid tribute Thursday evening, after 24 hours of silence, to a “talented” man who made “mistakes” and also praised the role played by Wagner on the front in Ukraine.

improvised memorial

After renouncing his mutiny, Prigozhin continued to travel to Russia and was received at least once in the Kremlin in June. The following month, he was at the gigantic Russia-Africa summit, a continent on which Wagner is particularly active. Dmitri Peskov nevertheless denied on Friday any recent meeting between Putin and Prigojine.

On Thursday, residents of St Petersburg, where the group was based, marched to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial, a sign of the warlord’s popularity with some, who appreciated his nationalism and outspoken criticism of elites Russian military.