Russia is currently not investigating the Prigozhin crash
Russia has told the Brazilian aviation authority that it currently has no plans to investigate the plane crash that killed Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last week. That reports news agency Reuters.
Prigozhin and two other senior officers of the Wagner, along with seven others, were killed in the crash. The plane they were in was a Brazilian-built Embraer corporate jet.
Brazil’s aviation authority, in the interest of improving aviation safety, said it would join a Russian-led investigation if invited and conducted according to international rules.
The cause of the crash of the plane is not yet known. According to the American intelligence services, it is likely that the device was detonated by, for example, a bomb in the plane. Another theory is that it was shot out of the sky by a missile.
“We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents,” White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference. President Joe Biden said after reporting on Prigozhin’s death that he was “not surprised” and that little is happening in Russia that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is not behind.
The Kremlin denies any involvement, calling the suggestion that Putin ordered Prigozhin’s death in revenge for his June mutiny “an absolute lie.”