Pentagon says no info to support missile strike theory for Prigozhin crash
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Emergency specialists carrying a body bag near the wreckage of the private jet at the crash site in the Tver region, Russia, on Aug 24, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – The US Department of Defence on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Air Force Brigadier-General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, offered no evidence or further details on what US officials believe caused the crash as he made his remarks at a Pentagon news conference.
Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that the United States was looking at a number of theories on what caused Mr Prigozhin’s plane to crash, and cited two US officials saying a surface-to-air missile most likely hit it.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that the information was still preliminary and under review, and did not rule out a change to the assessment.
“We don’t have any information to indicate right now the press reporting stating that there was some type of surface-to-air missile that took down the plane,” Mr Ryder told reporters.
The Russian air authorities have said Mr Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, and eight other people were on the private plane that crashed with no survivors north-west of Moscow on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported a different theory, citing unnamed US officials: that a bomb aboard the aircraft or some other sabotage caused the crash.
It is not uncommon for there to be competing, even contradictory, intelligence views in the US government in the hours and days after major international events.
The crash came two months to the day after Mr Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny in which they took control of a southern Russian city, Rostov, and advanced towards Moscow.
A satellite image showing the area where the private jet linked to Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed near Kuzhenkino, in Russia’s Tver region on Aug 24, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he was not surprised by reports Mr Prigozhin had died in a plane crash, adding that not much happens in Russia that President Vladimir Putin was not behind.
Mr Putin on Thursday said he wished to express sincere condolences to the families of those who died, and said it was necessary to await the outcome of the official investigation.
Mr Prigozhin, 62, head of the Wagner mercenary group, frequently criticised the Russian army top brass over what he said was its incompetent prosecution of the war in Ukraine.
The Embraer executive jet model that crashed in Russia had recorded only one accident
