Putin breaks silence after reports rival Prigozhin dead in plane crash
Watch as Vladmir Putin sent condolences to the family of Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after a plane crashed thought to be carrying the mercenary leader.
Wagner used to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, but challenged Putin’s authority in an uprising in June.
Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a jet that spiralled out of the sky in near Tver, about 96km north of Moscow.
The president said Prigozhin “made serious mistakes in his life” but that he was “a talented businessman.”
British security forces believe Russia’s FSB intelligence agency shot down the jet on the orders of Putin, The Telegraph reports.
Wagner used to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, but challenged Putin’s authority in an uprising in June.
Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a jet that spiralled out of the sky in near Tver, about 96km north of Moscow.
The president said Prigozhin “made serious mistakes in his life” but that he was “a talented businessman.”
British security forces believe Russia’s FSB intelligence agency shot down the jet on the orders of Putin, The Telegraph reports.
Transcript
00:00 I have known Prigozhin for a long time, since the early 1990s.
00:06 He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in life.
00:13 He achieved the results he needed for himself and for the common cause, as I asked him to do,
00:22 as he has done in recent months.
00:25 He was a talented man, a talented businessman.
00:30 He worked not only in our country and achieved results, but also abroad, in Africa in particular.
00:37 He was involved in oil and gas, precious metals and stones.
00:43 As for this air crash, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of all the victims.
00:55 It is always a tragedy.
00:57 Indeed, if there were, and the initial data suggest that there were,
01:08 I would like to note that these people made a significant contribution to our common cause of the fight against the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine.
01:22 We remember this, we know this, and we will not forget it.
01:27 Thank you.
01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]