Vladimir Putin has suggested the plane crash that reportedly killed his former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin was caused by hand grenades – and not by a missile attack.
Hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of victims of a plane crash that killed former Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Mr Prigozhin was reportedly among 10 people killed in a plane crash north of Moscow on 23 August, two months to the day after he led a failed mutiny against top Russian officials.
The aborted rebellion, during which he demanded the ousting of the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was the biggest challenge to President Putin’s rule since he rose to power in 1999.
But Mr Putin appeared to dismiss Western assessments the plane had been shot down, claiming there was “no external impact” and this “is already an established fact”.
“Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash,” he told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.
He did not give any details around how a grenade could explode in the plane – but he said investigators should have tested the bodies for alcohol and drugs, given cocaine has been found at Wagner offices before.
“In my opinion, such an examination should have been carried out but it was not,” he added.
Mr Putin said the FSB security service had found 10 billion roubles (£82.3m) in cash and 5kg of cocaine in searches of Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg.
The investigators have not publicly commented on the case, but Russia said it confirmed Mr Prigozhin’s death in the crash following genetic tests – without revealing the cause.
He was buried privately in a “farewell ceremony” in a St Petersburg cemetery in August, according to his press team.
What happened to the plane?
The private Embraer Legacy aircraft was travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed, with Russia reporting there were no survivors.
Russian state-owned TASS news agency said seven passengers and three crew were on board the Embraer aircraft and were all killed.
A Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner Group said Mr Prigozhin was killed in the plane crash. It called him a hero and a patriot who had died at the hands of unidentified people described as “traitors to Russia”.
The plane came down near the village of Kuzhenkino Tver.