VLADIMIR Putin has broken his silence over Yevgeny Prigozhin’s reported death – some 24 hours after the Wagner chief’s private jet crashed.
Russia’s president said the head of the mercenary group was a “talented person” who “made serious mistakes in life”.
Mr Putin also sent condolences to the families of all 10 people said to be on board the plane that went down north-west of Moscow on Wednesday evening.
However, he stopped short of explicitly confirming Prigozhin’s death.
From the moment the plane came down, there has been frenzied speculation about what caused the deadly crash and whether Prigozhin was indeed on board, as stated on the passenger list.
At a briefing on Thursday, a Pentagon spokesperson said the US believed the Wagner chief was likely killed in the crash.
Villagers near the crash site in the Tver region say they heard a loud bang before seeing a plane falling out of the sky.
One of the theories being investigated is whether a bomb was smuggled on board, reports in Russian media suggest.
A US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the most likely cause appeared to be an explosion aboard the aircraft.
What caused the explosion was not known, although a bomb was one possibility, the official added.
Another theory, raised by a Prigozhin-linked Telegram channel, suggested that the jet had been shot down by Russian anti-aircraft forces. This has not been confirmed, and on Thursday the Pentagon said there was no information to indicate this.
Ground staff in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport – where the plane took off heading for St Petersburg – are being questioned, and CCTV footage is being checked.
