Moscow [Russia], August 24: The Telegram channel of Yevgeny Prigozhin says that the plane of the Wagner mercenary chief, in which he was said to have been killed in a crash, was shot down over Russia in a targeted strike.
The aircraft was downed by anti-aircraft defences over the Tver region, the Telegram channel Gray Zone reported, but it cast doubt as to whether Prigozhin had actually died.
Prighozin usually used the Gray Zone channel to distribute his videos.
Gray Zone wrote that two planes from Wagner's private mercenary force were in the air at the same time. The second aircraft turned around on the flight to St. Petersburg and landed at Ostafyevo Airport south of Moscow, Gray Zone said.
Gray Zone questioned the authorities' version that Prigozhin was on the passenger list of the first plane and was killed.
"Where Yevgeny Prigozhin was in the end, there is no precise information at the moment," it said. The mercenary leader was last seen in a video issued on Monday, allegedly from Africa.
US President Joe Biden suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been behind the crash of a plane near Moscow. "You may recall, I was asked about this," Biden told CNN's Kevin Liptak, alluding to comments he made in July in which he said Prighozin should be worried about his safety following the failed mutiny. "I said I would be careful what I rode in. I don't know for a fact what happened, but I'm not surprised," Biden said.
Source: Qatar Tribune