WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has said that he was “not surprised” at news reports that Wagner mercenary group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin may have died in an airplane crash in Moscow, Western media reported on Wednesday.
AFP reported that the US President said that he did not know for a fact what occurred, but he was not surprised. The US President added, ” there is not much that occurs in Moscow that Putin’s not behind. He further said, “I don’t know sufficient to know the answer.”
President Biden Says ‘Not Surprised’ by Wagner Boss’s Probable Death
The accident came sixty days after Wagner Chief’s launched a rebellious march on Russia’s capital Moscow, aiming to force the exclusion of Russia’s military leadership. The media reported that a private aircraft traveling from Moscow to Saint Petersburg crashed in the Tver Region. “There were 10 people on board, including three crew members. According to initial information, all those on board died,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported on Telegram.
Russian state-run news agencies stated that the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was on the list of passengers of the crashed plane. “The private plane that crashed near Moscow listed Yevgeny Prigozhin among its passengers,” Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia said. Russia’s TASS news agency reported, with RIA Novosti and Interfax issuing similar reports.
Read Also: Wagner Chief Among 10 Killed in Private Plane Crash Near Moscow
An investigation has also been initiated into the crash of the aircraft that occurred in the Tver region.
Similarly, in a statement, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said that they have seen the reports” of the plane crash. She added that no one should be surprised if the reports were confirmed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who established his private Wagner army a fighting force in the conflict on Ukraine but also created enemies in the Russian regular army, was on the plane’s passenger list, Russian state media reported.
