24 August 2023 , 19:00
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Vladimir Putin called former crony Yevgeny Prigozhin a "talented businessman" who made "serious mistakes" during a televised address after the Wagner boss died in a plane crash last night.
Looking into the camera, Putin told his fellow Russians that he was extending his condolences to Prigozhin's family as he framed their relationship positively despite the warlord carrying out the biggest threat to his authority just weeks earlier.
"I have known Prigozhin for a long time, since the beginning of the 1990s," Putin said. "This was a person with a complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in life, but also sought to achieve the necessary results - both for himself and at time when I asked him to, for the common cause, such as in these recent months."
Speaking of Prigozhin's movements in the days leading up to his death, Putin added: "As far as I'm aware, only yesterday [Prigozhin] returned from Africa. He met certain official persons there".
A Wagner fighter stands at a memorial to slain boss Prigzohin in St Petersburg (AP)Putin then sought to acknowledge the role of the Wagner Company in his illegal war in Ukraine, after they scored Moscow its only decisive battlefield victory in Bakhmut after more than a year. He said: "Initial data suggests employees of the Wagner company were on board.
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"I would like to note that these are people who have made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. We remember and know it, and we will not forget it."
The founder of the Wagner military company and six other passengers were on a private jet that crashed Wednesday soon after taking off from Moscow with a crew of three, according to Russia's civil aviation authority. Rescuers found 10 bodies, and Russian media cited anonymous sources in Wagner who said Prigozhin was dead. But there has been no official confirmation.
The plane wreckage in the Tver region (TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP via Get)If the deaths are confirmed, the crash would be the most serious blow the group has ever suffered to its leadership. The passenger manifest included Prigozhin and his second-in-command who baptized the group with his nom de guerre, as well as Wagner's logistics chief, a fighter wounded by U.S. airstrikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard.
It was not clear why several high-ranking members of Wagner, including top leaders who are normally exceedingly careful about their security, were on the same flight. The purpose of their joint trip to St. Petersburg was unknown. In all, the other passengers included six of Prigozhin's lieutenants, along with the three-member flight crew.
At Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, lights were turned on in the shape of a large cross, and Prigozhin supporters built a makeshift memorial, piling red and white flowers outside the building Thursday, along with company flags and candles.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage (AP)Russian state media has not covered the crash extensively, instead focusing on Putin's remarks to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg via video link and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Elsewhere, police cordoned off the field where the plane went down in Kuzhenkino, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northwest of Moscow, as investigators studied its wreckage. Vehicles took away the bodies.
Several Russian social media channels reported that the bodies were burned or disfigured beyond recognition and would need to be identified by DNA. The reports were picked up by independent Russian media, but The Associated Press was not able to independently confirm them.
Prigozhin supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed, including suggesting it could have been hit by a missile or targeted by a bomb on board. Those claims could not be independently verified.