Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner Group military company, arrives during a funeral ceremony on the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, April 8, 2023.
AP
WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence Thursday in quick, impersonal remarks to the families involved within the fatal plane crash believed to have killed Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin, who was once Putin’s personal chef and confidant, was living in exile following an attempt in June to revolt over frustrations stemming from a scarcity of Russian battlefield successes in Ukraine.
“With regard to this plane crash, to start with, I would like to precise my sincere condolences to the families of all of the victims. It is usually a tragedy,” Putin said in a televised speech.
“I’ve known Prigozhin for a very long time, because the early ’90′s,” Putin said, describing him as a “talented businessman” with a “complicated fate” who “made serious mistakes in his life.”
The Russian leader stopped wanting confirming Prigozhin’s death but did speak previously tense when referring to the 62-year-old. Putin said an investigation into what happened to the private jet carrying 10 people and departing from Moscow to St. Petersburg was already underway.
The Pentagon said Thursday that initial intelligence indicates that the Wagner chief died within the Wednesday plane crash.
“It’s likely Prigozhin was killed and we’re continuing to evaluate the situation,” said U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder during a Pentagon briefing.
“The press reporting stating that there was some form of surface-to-air missile; we assess that information to be inaccurate,” Ryder said, declining to elaborate further.
CNBC and NBC News haven’t confirmed Prigozhin’s death.
Former deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told MSNBC that the attack “was not a mysterious accident.”
“This has all of the hallmarks of appearing like a military-style takedown,” Rhodes said, adding that Prigozhin’s fate was eminent following a short-lived mutiny about two months ago.
Former U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis, who led the NATO alliance’s forces between 2009 and 2013, said Prigozhin’s death was a dog whistle to those that dissent from Putin’s absolute rule.
“He [Putin] needed to reveal who really is running the joint,” Stavridis said, describing the attack as a “public execution.”
“No real surprise here, it is a marker of how lethal, and the way deadly and the way unscrupulous Vladimir Putin is,” Stavridis added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied claims that Kyiv was behind the downing of the private jet on Russian soil.
“We’ve nothing to do with it. Everyone understands who’s involved,” Zelenskyy said.
