Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Russia bluntly mentions the potential for premeditated murder of the boss of the mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Kremlin said it was possible the plane was brought down deliberately.
This was confirmed by a spokesman for the Russian government, Dmitry Peskov, to reporters when asked about the investigation Wednesday local time. It was the first explicit acknowledgment stating that Prigozhin indeed been killed.
“It is clear that various versions are being considered, including that version,” he was quoted as saying ReutersThursday (31/8/2023).
“Say, a willful cruelty,” he insisted.
However, he said no official conclusions had been drawn yet. He also ignored the potential involvement of the International Civil Aviation Organization in the accident investigation.
“First of all, an investigation is being carried out, the Investigative Committee is engaged in this,” he said referring to the internal Russian agency.
“In this case there is no talk of any international aspects,” Peskov said.
“Let’s wait for the results of our investigation in Russia,” he said again.
Previously, the Embraer private jet on which Prigozhin was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed north of the Russian capital and killed all 10 people on board last August 23. Prigozhin was among the dead
The cause is still unknown. But villagers near the scene heard a bang and then saw the jet crash to the ground.
The plane crashed exactly two months after Prigozhin took control of the southern city of Rostov in late June. This was the beginning of Wagner’s revolt against the Russian Defense Ministry, that rocked the government President Vladimir Putin.
Jet Embraer is a plane made in Brazil. However, the investigative authority of the Samba State aircraft will not interfere in the investigation according to Russian notification.
The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), which oversees investigations into aviation accidents in former republics of the Soviet Union including Russia, also said it would not investigate the crash. IAC also declined to comment much about the incident.
Meanwhile, Prigozhin’s funeral was held behind closed doors Tuesday. His burial, which is considered secret, has led to a number of speculations.
The West believes that Putin or at least the military is behind this accident. While sources in the Kremlin, accused the plane crashed because of a missile attack.
On the other hand, dOn X’s social media, Ukraine military observer Igor Sushko said Prigozhin appeared to have faked his death through the August 23 crash. He considered that Prigozhin might have done this in order to roam around under a new identity.
“In general, an information scenario trying to convince the public that Prigozhin has died is too exaggerated to be true,” said Sushko.
“It is hard to imagine Prigozhin… would put themselves in a position to be killed… after showing extraordinary competence and careful preparation for a coup against (Russian President) Putin,” he added.
The same thing was said by a senior lecturer in political communication at Glasgow University, Joanna Szostek. He considered that there was a conspiracy behind the claims of Prigozhin’s death.
“Everyone knows that the Russian state lies often and state-controlled television channels lie quite often,” Szostek was quoted as saying ABC News.
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