Russia rejects US claims Putin approved Wagner chief killing as ‘an absolute lie’
- ‘All of this is an absolute lie’, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said about allegations Yevgeny Prigozhin was assassinated on the Russian president’s orders
- US assessments indicated the plane may have been destroyed by a bomb on board, the UK also is working on the assumption the plane was brought down deliberately
The Kremlin denounced US allegations that Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was the victim of an assassination that was probably approved by President Vladimir Putin.
“All of this is an absolute lie,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. While there’s a lot of speculation about the cause of the plane crash that killed Prigozhin, the president is waiting for the investigation results that “will be completed in the foreseeable future,” Peskov said.
He spoke after American officials said early US assessments indicated the plane carrying Prigozhin and other Wagner officials may have been destroyed by a bomb on board while en route from Moscow to St Petersburg on Wednesday.
The assassination was likely approved by Putin, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner group founder and ex Putin ally, reportedly dies in plane crash in Russia
The UK also is working on the assumption the plane was brought down deliberately, although the exact cause of the crash is still not clear, an official there said. Russia’s investigation appears to be examining the theory of a bomb on the plane, they said.
In his first comments on the crash, Putin said on state TV late Thursday that Prigozhin was a “talented businessman” but “a man with a complicated fate” who “made serious mistakes in life”.
Prigozhin’s downfall came after he led a failed mutiny in June against Putin’s military leaders that threatened the president’s nearly quarter-century grip on power.
Putin had denounced the rebellion as “treason”, but Prigozhin had appeared to escape immediate retaliation by the Kremlin under a deal brokered to end the revolt as his fighters came within 200 kilometres (124 miles) of Moscow.
Prigozhin greets Wagner troops in Belarus, says out of Ukraine war for now
Wagner mercenaries fought for Russia in Ukraine, and the company still has extensive operations in the Middle East and Africa.
“The question about whether Putin did indeed issue the order to dispatch Prigozhin is immaterial in terms of its implications,” said Beth Sanner, former deputy director of US National Intelligence. “Everyone will believe that he did so.”
“The risk of insubordination inside the military has disappeared,” she said. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who were the main objects of Prigozhin’s mutiny, “are wielding more power than ever”.
“The earlier phases of this episode made Putin look weak,” said Eric Green, a former top White House official responsible for Russia and now a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“This probably helps reassert his role as the godfather of the organisation.”
