MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned Thursday that hand grenade fragments had been discovered within the our bodies of people that died within the Aug. 23 crash of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s airplane.

Experts investigating the crash discovered no indication the non-public jet had suffered an “external impact,” he mentioned. Prigozhin and two of his high lieutenants of the Wagner non-public navy contractor had been among the many 10 folks killed when the jet got here down because it flew from Moscow to St. Petersburgh.

There was no strategy to independently confirm Putin’s assertion.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence evaluation concluded that an intentional explosion triggered the crash, and Western officers have pointed to a protracted listing of Putin foes who've been assassinated. The Kremlin known as allegations he was behind the crash as an “absolute lie.”

A Russian investigation was launched however no findings have been launched. Moscow rejected a suggestion from Brazil, the place the Embraer enterprise jet was constructed, to hitch the inquiry.

While Putin famous the probe was nonetheless ongoing and stopped wanting saying what triggered the crash, his assertion appeared to trace the airplane was introduced down by a grenade explosion.

Prigozhin’s aborted rebel in June marked essentially the most severe problem to Putin, who has been in energy for greater than twenty years. The crash got here two months to the day after the rebel’s begin.

Putin additionally famous that whereas investigators haven’t examined the stays for alcohol and medicines, 5 kilograms (11 kilos) of cocaine was discovered throughout searches at Prigozhin’s workplace in St. Petersburg following the mutiny - an obvious try to denigrate the mercenary chief.

After his demise, Putin described Prigozhin, 62, as “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life.”

Prigozhin owed his fortune to his ties with the Russian chief courting to the early Nineteen Nineties and was dubbed “Putin’s chef” for the profitable Kremlin catering contracts.

The Wagner Group navy contractor that he created has been lively in Ukraine, Syria and a number of other African international locations and counted tens of 1000's of troops at its peak. It performed a key function within the preventing in Ukraine, the place it spearheaded seize of the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut in May after months of bloody fight.

In the June 23-24 rebel, Prigozhin mentioned it was supposed to oust the Defense Ministry’s management that he blamed for errors in urgent the preventing in Ukraine. His mercenaries took over Russia’s southern navy headquarters in Rostov-on-Don after which rolled towards Moscow earlier than abruptly halting the mutiny below a deal that provided them amnesty from prosecution. The mercenaries got a option to retire from the service, transfer to Belarus or signal new contracts with the Defense Ministry.

Last week, Putin met with one among Wagner’s high commanders to take cost of “volunteer units” preventing in Ukraine in an indication that the Kremlin intends to maintain utilizing the mercenaries after Prigozhin’s demise.

Putin mentioned Thursday that a number of thousand Wagner troops have signed contracts with the Defense Ministry.

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