Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken for the first time about the recent plane crash.
He sends his condolences to the families of the dead, and describes Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman.
In a televised speech Putin, says investigators will look into what happened – but that this will take time.
He says he was told about Wednesday’s plane crash on Thursday morning.
Putin also says that “as far as I’m aware”, Prigozhin “only yesterday [Wednesday] returned from Africa. He met certain official persons there”.
In recent days the Wagner boss is believed to have been present in West Africa – where Western analysts fear the group was seeking to widen its reach into other countries, including Niger, where a coup has just taken place.
Wagner is a key pillar of Russian foreign policy, with its forces helping to prop up governments in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic and Libya in exchange for lucrative mining rights.
Putin pays tribute to the man who was once known as his “chef” due to lucrative contracts he had to supply food to the Kremlin.
“I have known Prigozhin for a long time, since the beginning of the 1990s,” Putin says in his televised address.
In an apparent reference to Wagner’s aborted mutiny in June, Putin continues: “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.”
Reported to be alongside Prigozhin on the plane was his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, as well as five other Wagner members and three crew.
“Initial data suggests employees of the Wagner company were on board,” Putin acknowledges.
“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,” he continues.
“We remember and know it, and we will not forget it.”
Putin has frequently claimed the presence of neo-Nazis in Ukraine as a justification for his invasion of the neighbouring country – claims which have been debunked. It’s also worth noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy is Jewish.
Full Speech
“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.
“Indeed, 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.
“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.
“He was a talented person, a talented businessman, he worked not only in our country, and worked with results, but also abroad, in Africa in particular.
“He was involved there with oil, gas, precious metals and stones.
“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. There are no doubts about this.
“Let’s see what the investigators say in the near future. And now, expert examinations, technical examinations and genetic ones are being carried out. This takes some time.”
