Fri 25 August 2023:

The Kremlin has dismissed rumours it had requested the assassination of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who reportedly died in a plane crash on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a briefing,”There is a lot of speculation around the plane crash and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin … All this is an absolute lie.”

 Russian investigators have opened a probe into what happened, but have not yet said what they suspect caused the plane to suddenly fall from the sky northwest of Moscow.

Nor have they officially confirmed the identities of the 10 bodies recovered from the wreckage.

Western politicians and commentators have suggested that Putin ordered Prigozhin killed to punish him for launching a failed June 23-34 mutiny against the top brass which represented the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule yet.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusation and many others like it were false.

“There is now a great deal of speculation surrounding this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the plane’s passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, in the West, all this speculation is presented from a well-known angle,” Peskov told reporters.

“All of this is an absolute lie, and here, when covering this issue, it is necessary to base yourself on facts. There are not many facts yet. They need to be established in the course of investigative actions.”

Peskov said that it was important to wait for the results of various tests as well as the outcome of the investigation.

He said Putin had not met Prigozhin recently.

Putin Offers ‘condolences’ After Wagner Plane Crash

Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence Thursday on the plane crash a day earlier that reportedly killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and other senior members of the Wagner paramilitary group.

In televised comments Putin offered his “sincere condolences to the families of all the victims”, describing the crash as a “tragedy”. As well as Prigozhin, the other nine people on board also died.

Wednesday evening’s crash took place exactly two months after Prigozhin led a rebellion against Moscow’s top military brass, considered by some observers to have been the biggest threat to Putin’s long rule.

Although Moscow opened a probe into violations of air traffic rules, investigators have been silent since, as speculation of a possible assassination has grown.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted Kyiv had nothing to do with the incident. “I think everyone knows who this concerns,” he said, in what appeared to be a reference to Putin.

“There is a court in The Hague, there is a court of God.

But Russia has an alternative (court) — President Putin,” he said when asked again about the air crash later Thursday.

– A ‘common cause’ – When Putin broke his silence on Thursday he paid a qualified tribute to the mercenary boss and the paramilitary group he led.

“I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 90s. He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results,” Putin said.

In an address to Russians during the Wagner rebellion on June 23-24 in which he warned against “civil war”, Putin had called Prigozhin — once his ally — a “traitor”.

But on Thursday, he said the Wagner members who had died in the crash had made a “significant contribution” to Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

They had shared a common cause, Putin said, adding: “We remember that, we know that, and we will not forget that.”He said the investigation into the crash would take time, but added: “It will be conducted in full and brought to a conclusion.”

Wagner Group has no legal existence, says the Kremlin

source:RUSSIA CALLS ACCUSATIONS IT KILLED WAGNER HEAD PRIGOZHIN AN ‘ABSOLUTE LIE’ (independentpress.cc)