Putin says Prigozhin was a "talented man" who "made serious mistakes" in early comments after the plane crash

 

Putin says Prigozhin was a "talented man" who "made serious mistakes" in early comments after the plane crash

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday about the plane crash that allegedly killed Eugene Prigozhin, saying the Wagner frontman was "talented" but had made "serious mistakes in his life".

Plane

crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, the Russian Air Force Authority said, including Prigozhin, the leader of a group of mercenaries known worldwide for their brutal methods and their victories on the battlefields in Ukraine. Authorities continue to identify the bodies.

"First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of all victims, it is still a tragedy," Putin said.

"Indeed, if they were there, then apparently ... preliminary information suggests that Wagner Group personnel were also on board," Putin said during a Kremlin meeting with the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). . ) Denis Pushhin.

Speaking of Prigozhin in the past tense, Putin said he had known Wagner's boss "for a long time" and that he was "a talented man, a talented businessman".

"He was a man with a difficult fate, he made serious mistakes in his life and achieved the necessary results both for himself and at my request - for a common cause, as in recent months," said the Russian president.

The Prigozhin plane crash occurred two months after Prigozhin and Wagner staged the uprising that was Putin's greatest challenge to power during his long reign.

A few days after the uprising, an angry Putin made it clear that he viewed Wagner's actions as high treason. Although he did not name Prigozhin, he accused the "organizers of the uprising" of betraying Russia itself.

A witness to the crash told Reuters he saw a wing of the plane take off on Wednesday before it headed for the ground. "He went off a wing. "It didn't fly upside down, it just hung," he said.

Prigozhin's apparent death follows a series of incidents that led to the killing or attempted assassination of Kremlin critics. No evidence was presented to suggest that the Kremlin or Russian security services were involved in the incident. The cause of the crash is unknown and Russian authorities have launched an investigation.

Putin has promised that this investigation will be thorough. But what is absolutely certain is what the head of the commission of inquiry told me this morning. They have already launched a preliminary investigation into the incident. And it will be fully realized and realized,” Putin said.

US officials told CNN it was too early to draw any conclusions about the cause, but were examining a number of possibilities, including the presence of an explosive device on board that could have caused the crash.

At the same time, those close to the intelligence community believed that the plane was shot down deliberately and the aim was to kill Prigozhin.

US President Joe Biden, prominent Russian critic Bill Browder and Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak have all indicated that they believe Putin is behind the disaster.

CNN spoke to several people in Russia about the disaster on Thursday. All agreed to use only their names so that they could speak freely without fear of retaliation.

Some have openly speculated as to the cause. "He was killed by Putin, who does not forgive treason," said Alexei from Moscow. "Putin was behind all this, or it could have been his Politburo, but Putin knew it and approved it."

Nobody CNN spoke to believed that Ukraine was responsible for the disaster.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied any involvement by his country, Ukrainian state media reported.

“First of all, we definitely have nothing to do with this situation. But I think everyone knows who did it," he said.