Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken for the first time about Wednesday’s plane crash.
He sends his condolences to the families of the dead, and describes Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman.
Although Putin paid tribute to the warlord in a televised address, you’ll notice in the transcript that we provided below that the Russian president was very precise with his choice of words. He stopped short of directly confirming Prigozhin’s death.
Putin stated there had been fatalities, saying he “would like to above all express words of the most sincere condolences to the families of all those who have died”. But he seemed to suggest it was not totally clear whether Wagner members were amongst the dead, saying only that “initial information suggests” they were on the plane.
And although he saluted to Prigozhin as a “talented businessman” with a “complicated fate”, at no point did Putin state in black and white that the Wagner founder was amongst the dead. However, he did use the past tense when speaking about the 62-year-old.
While the plane that crashed was linked to Prigozhin – and information released by Russian authorities states that he and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin were amongst seven Wagner associates killed – the BBC has been unable to verify these claims.
Source: BBC