Vladimir Putin has released a statement for the first time about the plane crash that killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine other passengers. According to the Russian president, shrapnel was found in their bodies. He suggests that the fighters were under the influence of drink or drugs and accidentally detonated the projectile.
“The head of the investigative committee reported a few days ago,” Putin told a political forum in the Russian seaside city of Sochi. “Shrapnel were found in the bodies of the victims. There are no indications that the aircraft was hit by anything from outside,” it said.
Putin also casually indicated that 10 billion rubles (94 million euros) in cash and five kilos of cocaine were found in the offices of the Wagner Group in St. Petersburg. “Unfortunately, it was not checked whether there was alcohol or drugs in their blood. In my opinion, such an investigation should have been done.” In doing so, he gives the impression that the mercenaries would have set off a grenade themselves in a drunken state.
In addition to Prigozhin, other Wagner leaders were on the plane. Two months earlier they had led an uprising against the Russian military leadership, advancing towards Moscow. There was immediate international speculation that Putin had ordered an attack against them.
Putin made even more remarkable statements yesterday. “Russia’s mission is to build a new world,” it said. In that perspective, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is “not a territorial conflict.” “We have no interest in recapturing territory,” he said. However, in September 2022, Putin demanded the annexation of four regions in Ukraine in addition to Crimea.
So what is it about? Determining principles to bring about that new world order, apparently. “Russia is capable of making a huge contribution, but some apparently understood this to mean that we would submit,” it said. “No one wanted to listen to Russia, the arrogance of the West was through the roof. And while their prosperity was largely achieved by plundering the planet.”
In his view, the war in Ukraine leaves nothing to be desired in terms of clarity. “Washington’s colonial thinking has caused the leaders of the West to lose their sense of reality. The United States considers itself the sole arbiter of truth on the planet. With what right do they lecture other countries?”
“We did not start the so-called war in Ukraine. On the contrary, we are trying to end him,” Putin concluded.
Only 0.3 percent of occupied territory liberated in Ukraine: is counter-offensive a lost cause? Or is there still hope? Former Colonel Housen explains (+)
PORTRAIT. Storm-Z is the successor to Wagner who no one survives: “They are nothing more than some meat” (+)
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.