The Kremlin on Friday denied allegations that it was behind a fiery plane crash this week that apparently killed Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his top deputy.
“Now, naturally, there are many speculations over this plane crash and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to state-run media outlet TASS.
“The West is selling these speculations from a certain angle,” he added. “All of them are absolute lies. Here, of course, in covering this issue it is necessary to be based solely on facts.”
Peskov said the Kremlin is still awaiting more information on the incident, repeating a point Russian President Vladimir Putin made Thursday during televised remarks.
Putin in his remarks expressed his condolences for the 10 victims of the plane crash and said Prigozhin was a “talented businessman” who had a “difficult fate.”
“He made serious mistakes in his life,” Putin said, though he also thanked Wagner Group for the private military company’s role fighting in Ukraine.
Whether or not Putin directly had a role in the crash, analysts told The Hill it sends a clear warning shot to his critics and potential rivals in Russia.
Russia’s civilian aviation authority said Prigozhin was a passenger on the business jet that crashed about 100 miles from Moscow. Also on the jet was his top commander, Dmitry Utkin. There has been no other confirmation of their deaths.
U.S. officials believe that Prigozhin likely died in the crash and that the plane exploded because of an internal bomb, which they said is in line with Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.”
Prigozhin led an armed rebellion against Putin in June. He halted his advance toward Moscow after reaching an ostensible deal with Putin to escape terrorism charges, which was brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
“Prigozhin signed a special death warrant for himself the moment he believed in Lukashenko’s bizarre ‘guarantees’ and Putin’s equally absurd ‘word of honor,’” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted after the crash.
“A good lesson to all the ‘doves of peace’ who still believe in the possibility of negotiating with Putin under the condition of a ‘ceasefire and arms supply termination.’”
The Associated Press contributed.