Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence on the aeroplane crash that killed Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and other top leaders of the mercenary group. “It is always a tragedy,” Putin said condoling the deaths.
In a televised interview with Denis Pushilin, Russian installed leader of the Donetsk region in Ukraine, Putin said, "As for the aviation tragedy, first of all, I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families of all the victims. It is always a tragedy,” Reuters reported.
Expressing condolences, Reuters quoted Putin as saying, “If employees of the Wagner company were there, and the preliminary data indicate they were, I would like to note that these people made a significant contribution to our common cause of combating the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, we remember this, we know it and we shall not forget."
Putin remembered Prigozhin as a talented person and as a man with a difficult fate. “I had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the start of the 90s. He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life. And he strove for the results he needed for himself, and when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months,” Reuters reported.
Putin said that Prigozhin was a talented businessman and was involved in the mining business in Africa. "As far as I know, he just returned yesterday from Africa. He met some officials here. But what is quite definite – the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning - is they have already begun a preliminary investigation into this event. And it will be carried out in full, and taken right to the end,” Putin said. Putin said that genetic examinations are being carried out and it is going to take sometime.
Meanwhile, according to US authorities, a surface-to-air missile which originated within Russia reportedly shot down the plane carrying Prigozhin.