Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Pjotr Sauer

Onboard grenade blast caused plane crash that killed Wagner boss, claims Putin

A makeshift memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group in Moscow, following his death in a plane crash.
A makeshift memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group in Moscow, following his death in a plane crash. Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

Vladimir Putin has claimed that the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin was caused by hand grenades detonating inside the aircraft, and suggested the Wagner boss may have been on drugs.

Prigozhin died when his business jet crashed on 23 August, two months after he staged an aborted mutiny against Russian military commanders in which his Wagner mercenary troops briefly took control of the southern city of Rostov and advanced towards Moscow. Two other top Wagner commanders, Prigozhin’s four bodyguards and a crew of three were also killed.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.