The Kremlin said on Friday that Western suggestions that Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed on its orders and what it called other “speculation”, were an “absolute lie”.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that an investigation into the plane crash on Wednesday evening in which President Vladimir Putin has said that Prigozhin and his associates were killed according to preliminary information, is ongoing.
Putin had not met Prigozhin recently, Peskov added.
‘Impossible’ to say whether Putin will go to Prigozhin funeral
Peskov also said it was impossible to say whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is presumed dead after a Wednesday air crash, but that Putin had “a very full schedule”.
The spokesman added that Wagner exists as a group that has made a “big contribution” to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, and he praised its fighters’ “heroism”.
The Wagner mercenaries in June briefly attempted to march on Moscow in a mutiny aimed at ousting Prigozhin’s rivals in the defence establishment, a rebellion condemned by President Vladimir Putin as a treacherous “stab in the back”.
(Reuters)