While facts around the plane crash that reportedly killed Yevgeny Prigozhin are murky, American and British officials believe the private jet was brought down by an explosion—and they are increasingly certain that the killing was ordered by Vladimir Putin, the New York Times reports. In a tweet Friday, Britain's defense ministry said while there isn't "definitive proof" that the Wagner Group chief was on the aircraft, "it is highly likely that he is indeed dead." The ministry noted that the death will "almost certainly have a deeply destabilizing effect" on the mercenary group.
"His personal attributes of hyperactivity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor," the ministry said. The crash killed several other high-ranking Wagner figures, including founder and field commander Dmitry Utkin. Wagner operates in several countries in Africa and Prigozhin had reportedly returned to Russia from the continent on the day he died. Reuters reports that Russia's deputy defense minister visited Libya on Tuesday, the day before the crash, to tell officials that Wagner fighters would remain in the country under Russian command.
Western officials believe Prigozhin was killed as payback for the group's short-lived mutiny two months ago, but the Kremlin said Friday that suggestions Putin ordered the killing were an "outright lie," the Guardian reports. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it's not clear whether Putin—who described Prigozhin on Thursday as a "talented person" who made "serious mistakes in life"—would attend the funeral. Putin, he said, has a "very full schedule." Asked by the AP whether Prigozhin's death had been confirmed, Peskov said an investigation is underway and Putin has said genetic testing will be carried out on bodies recovered from the crash site. (More Yevgeny Prigozhin stories.)
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