There is no indication that a surface-to-air missile shot down the plane carrying the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine, the Pentagon said Thursday. The U.S. military has “no information that a surface-to-air missile” was involved in Wednesday’s crash, spokesman Pat Ryder said.
Reports of the use of such a weapon are “inaccurate”, he added. General Pat Ryder said he could not provide information on the causes of the crash, which are the subject of much speculation.
“He was probably killed”
But the United States believes that the latter caused the death of Yevgeny Prigojine, he said. “We estimate, based on a number of factors, that he was likely killed.” None of the passengers survived, but Russian authorities have yet to formally announce the death of the Wagner leader, as the bodies have not been identified. On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin, however, spoke in the past of his ex-ally with a “complicated destiny”.
The Russian president reacted Thursday by offering his condolences and speaking to the past of this ex-ally with a “complicated” destiny, at work in Africa and Ukraine, but who had turned his men against Moscow in June. “He was a man with a complicated destiny, who made serious mistakes in his life, but who was getting the results he needed,” Putin said during a televised meeting, presenting his “sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims.