There is no evidence that a surface-to-air missile shot down the plane carrying the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigoyine, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
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The US military has “no information that a surface-to-air missile” was involved in Wednesday’s crash, spokesman Pat Ryder said.
Reports of the use of such a weapon are “inaccurate,” he added.
General Pat Ryder said he could not provide any information about the causes of the crash, which has been speculated about.
But the United States believes the latter caused the death of Yevgeny Prigoyine, he said. “We believe he was likely killed based on a number of factors.”
None of the passengers survived, but Russian authorities have not yet officially announced the death of the Wagner leader because the bodies have not been identified.
On Thursday, however, President Vladimir Putin spoke of a “complicated fate” in the past of his ex-ally.