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2 hours ago
The Russian investigation authorities announced on Friday evening that the bodies of the ten victims who were killed in the crash of the plane carrying Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin had been found, in addition to the two black boxes of the plane that crashed Wednesday in Russia.
The Russian Investigative Committee said on Telegram, “The bodies of the 10 dead were found at the scene of the accident, and genetic examinations are now underway to determine their identity.”
Since the plane crash near the Russian capital on Wednesday, there has been speculation that Wagner’s leader may be the victim of an assassination plot orchestrated by the Kremlin for challenging the authority of the Russian president.
However, the Kremlin described “the allegations of the West as pure lies.”
The Kremlin declined to confirm Prigozhin’s death definitively, indicating that it should wait for the results of the investigation.
Russia’s aviation authority said Prigozhin was on board a private plane that crashed on Wednesday night northwest of Moscow, killing all on board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Prigozhin’s family on Thursday, speaking for the first time about the incident, which occurred two months after the group’s failed insurgency against Moscow.
Putin said “preliminary information” indicated that Prigozhin and other senior members of Wagner were all killed. While he praised Prigozhin, he said he had made some “grave mistakes”.
Western politicians and commentators have suggested, without providing evidence, that Putin ordered the killing of Prigozhin to punish him for staging the June 23-34 rebellion against the army command, which amounted to the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule since he came to power in 1999.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusations were completely false.
“There is a lot of speculation about the plane crash and the tragic death of its passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin, and of course in the West speculation is presented from a known angle,” Peskov said.
“All of this is pure lies. When covering this case, it is necessary to rely on facts. There are not many facts yet. Facts must be extracted from the investigation procedures,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov criticized US President Joe Biden for expressing his lack of surprise that Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.
Ryabkov accused Biden of ignoring diplomatic norms.
“We must wait for the results of the investigation.”
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Asked if the Kremlin had received official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death, Peskov said: “If you listen carefully to the Russian president’s statement, he said that now all necessary examinations will be carried out, including genetic examinations. The official results will be published, as soon as they are ready.” “.
Peskov, who said Putin had not met Prigozhin recently, said it was unknown how long the checks and investigations would take.
Given this, he said, it is impossible to start talking about whether Putin will attend Prigozhin’s funeral.
“There is no date for the funeral yet, it is impossible to talk about it at all. The only thing I can say is that the president has a busy schedule at the moment,” Peskov said.
British military intelligence said on Friday there was no conclusive evidence Prigozhin was on board but it was “likely” that he was killed.
The well-resourced Russian news site Baza said investigators are focusing on a theory that one or two bombs may have been planted on the plane.
When asked about the future of the Wagner Group, which has a number of contracts in Africa and a unit in Belarus to train the army there, Peskov said, “I can’t tell you anything now, I don’t know.”
And Russian paramilitary fighters will have to take an oath in front of the Russian flag, according to a presidential decree signed on Friday.
The decree stated that this measure aims to “form the spiritual and moral foundations for the defense of the Russian Federation” and applies to members of volunteer formations, a term usually describing mercenary groups.
The decree, posted on the Kremlin’s website, said the law also applies to groups “contributing to the implementation of tasks assigned to the armed forces” and territorial defense units.
The decree stated that the fighters must pledge “loyalty to the Russian Federation … and strictly comply with the orders of their commanders and superiors, and conscientiously fulfill their obligations.”
Putin signed the document two months after Prigozhin led his fighters in a revolt against top military leaders in Moscow.
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2023-08-25 16:39:10
