U.S. officials are still determining the cause of the plane crash that likely killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to the Pentagon.
Prigozhin, along with Wagner ally Dmitry Utkin and eight other people, was presumed dead after the plane suddenly plummeted out of the sky and crashed during a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Wednesday. There is “no information” to support theories that the plane was shot down via missile strike, but Prigozhin was likely on the plane when it crashed, according to Pentagon Spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
“It is likely Prigozhin was killed,” Ryder said during a press conference Thursday. “We don’t have any information to indicate right now … there was some type of surface-to-air missile that took down the plane. We assess that information to be inaccurate. Again, nothing to indicate, no information, to suggest there was a surface-to-air missile.”
When asked if it was possible that a bomb was planted on the aircraft and exploded mid-flight, Ryder said he had no further information to provide.
Flight tracking data showed that the plane was in normal and working condition until the aircraft made a “sudden downward vertical” and plummeted 8,000 feet from a 28,000-foot cruising altitude within 30 seconds, according to Reuters. The plane then began to sporadically ascend and descend, until a final nosedive resulted in a crash near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region.
New video of Prigozhin’s last moments on earth.
This isn’t a normal crash. It’s obvious that his plane was shot down. pic.twitter.com/cAJxs5F79F
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 23, 2023
“Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24 told Reuters. “They may have been wrestling (with the aircraft) after whatever happened.”
There was “no indication that there was anything wrong with this aircraft” prior to the sudden dive, Petchenik said.
Investigators opened a criminal probe, but no official word has been given as to the cause of the crash, according to Reuters. Russian media reported that investigators were looking into the possibility that a bomb was on board.
Prigozhin led the Wagner group in a coup against Moscow in late June. Wagner forces agreed to stop their efforts after Putin agreed to grant Prigozhin and his troops amnesty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to “eulogize” Prigozhin on Thursday, according to The Washington Post. He said Prigozhin was a “talented person” he had known since 1990, but said he also “made serious mistakes.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was unsurprised by the news.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised,” Biden said. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer. I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a press briefing from the Pentagon.
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