Plane that crashed killing Prigozhin, others had no external impact – Putin

 

SOCHI – Russian President,  Vladimir Putin has said that the plane that carried founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin that crashed was not subjected to any external impact before crashing. 

Putin who was speaking at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club added that the dead bodies evacuated from the scene including that of Prigozhin were not tested for alcohol and drugs, although such tests should have been carried out

“I know, there is probably a question that is begging to be asked about what happened to the company’s leadership. We know about the plane crash. The head of the Investigative Committee briefed me just the other day. Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash. There was no external impact on the plane, and this is an established fact, the result of an examination that was conducted by the Russian Investigative Committee,” Putin said.

“The investigation is ongoing, but, regrettably, no tests were carried out to determine whether alcohol or drugs were present in the blood of the deceased.

“However, we all know that after the events that you are well aware of, the FSB [Federal Security Service] found five kilograms of cocaine in the company’s office in St. Petersburg, along with ten billion rubles,” he said.

“In my opinion, a test of this kind should have been carried out, but it wasn’t,” the Russian president added.

“That’s all I can say,” he continued. “I asked the chairman of the Investigative Committee if I can say this publicly, and he replied: ‘Yes, you can, it’s a proven fact”, he said of the incident that killed Prigozhin.