Hand grenade fragments found in bodies of victims after Yevgeny Prigozhin plane crash, Vladimir Putin says
Hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of victims of a plane
crash that killed former Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian
President Vladimir Putin has said.
Mr Prigozhin was reportedly
among 10 people killed in a plane crash north of Moscow on 23 August,
two months to the day after he led a failed mutiny against top Russian officials.
The aborted rebellion, during which he demanded the ousting of the
defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was the biggest challenge to President
Putin's rule since he rose to power in 1999.
But Mr Putin appeared to dismiss Western assessments the plane had
been shot down, claiming there was "no external impact" and this "is
already an established fact".
"Fragments of hand grenades were
found in the bodies of those killed in the crash," he told a meeting of
the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.
He did not give any details around how a grenade could explode in the
plane - but he said investigators should have tested the bodies for
alcohol and drugs, given cocaine has been found at Wagner offices
before.
"In my opinion, such an examination should have been carried out but it was not," he added.
Mr Putin said the FSB security service had found 10 billion roubles
(£82.3m) in cash and 5kg of cocaine in searches of Wagner's offices in
St Petersburg.
