Vladimir Putin has suggested that his arch-enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was brought down by a hand grenade that exploded inside the plane while the Wagner boss and his fellow mercenaries were drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Weeks after leading an uprising against the Kremlin, Prigozhin, 62, was traveling on a private jet from Moscow to St. Petersburg on August 23 when it burst into flames.
The Embraer chief jet then crashed to Earth, killing Prigozhin, his bodyguards and other Wagner commanders, including Dmitry Utkin. Fingers were immediately pointed at President Putin, who had a spectacular argument with Prigozhin over the war in Ukraine.
But in an apparent attempt to distance himself from responsibility, Putin suggested that the explosion was due to a hand grenade accidentally exploding on the plane.
“Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash,” Putin told the Valdai Forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. “There were no external influences on the aircraft – that is already an established fact.”
Vladimir Putin (pictured on Thursday at the Valdai Forum in Sochi, Russia) has suggested that his arch-enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was brought down by a hand grenade that exploded inside the plane while the Wagner boss and his fellow mercenaries were drunk or were under the influence of drugs
Putin has suggested that the explosion that killed Prigozhin (pictured) and nine other people was the result of a hand grenade accidentally exploding on the plane
Weeks after leading a revolt against the Kremlin, Prigozhin was traveling on a private jet from Moscow to St. Petersburg on August 23 when it burst into flames (pictured).
Putin also suggested that the hand grenades may have exploded while being handled by Prigozhin or his Wagner mercenaries, who were drunk or on cocaine.
He also claimed that 5kg of cocaine was found during a search of Prigozhin’s private home in St Petersburg earlier this year.
The despot said he believes it is wrong that accident investigators did not conduct alcohol and drug tests on the deceased when their bodies were recovered from the accident site.
“Unfortunately, no testing for alcohol or drugs in the victims’ blood was conducted,” he said. “In my view this should have been done but it wasn’t.”
But former Wagner commander Marat Gabidullin, who left the group in 2019, dismissed Putin’s claims.
“I do not believe that. I didn’t notice any signs of this [Prigozhin or Utkin] Drugs used. And none of them drank,” Gabidullin told the Times.
Since the conflict began, several of Putin’s opponents have met gruesome ends.
The Embraer chief jet then crashed to Earth, killing Prigozhin, his bodyguards and other Wagner commanders. Pictured: – Russian investigators search the scene of a plane crash near the village of Kuzhenkino on August 24 this year
Vladimir Putin has claimed hand grenade fragments were recovered from the wreckage of a plane crash that killed his arch-enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured in June this year).
Western intelligence officials also believe the explosion that damaged the plane mid-flight was caused internally rather than externally.
However, so far only President Putin has suggested that the crash was caused by the accidental detonation of grenades by one of the passengers or crew.
It was claimed that explosives had been planted in a wine crate loaded onto the private jet – and that Putin was behind the attack. The Kremlin called the claim that it was behind the crash an “absolute lie.”
A Russian investigation has been launched, but no results have yet been made public. Moscow rejected an offer from Brazil, where the Embraer business jet was built, to join the investigation.
While Putin noted that the investigation was ongoing and could not comment on what caused the crash, he suggested that the plane was brought down by an exploded grenade while Prigozhin and his mercenaries were drunk or high on cocaine were.
Prigozhin’s June uprising was the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule since he came to power in 1999.
Prigozhin said the intention was to overthrow the Defense Ministry leadership, which he blamed for failures in promoting fighting in Ukraine.
His mercenaries took over Russia’s southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and then rolled toward Moscow before abruptly ending the mutiny under a deal that offered them amnesty from prosecution.
The president’s reaction – expelling Prigozhin to neighboring Belarus – initially seemed uncharacteristically meek, the judgment of a president whose power is waning.
Then, exactly two months later, Prigozhin’s jet was blown out of the sky.