Biden says he is 'not surprised' by reports of Wagner boss Prigozhin's death

US President Joe Biden has said he is not surprised by reports that Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has died in a plane crash.

US President Joe Biden.

Photo: EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private jet that crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Russian authorities.

There were 10 people on board the crashed Embraer: seven passengers and three crew members - Rosaviatsia

A special commission set up by Rosaviatsia has launched an investigation into the circumstances and causes of the plane crash. pic.twitter.com/2bcZh7pcpJ

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

Propaganda TV channel "Tsargrad" reports that the plane with Prigozhin was blown up

"According to preliminary information, the plane carrying PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin was blown up," the TV channel said in its Telegram channel,… pic.twitter.com/YTURS2uakg

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

❗️ Rosaviatsia published the list of passengers of the downed plane:

Propustin Sergey
Makaryan Evgeniy
Totmin Aleksandr
Chekalov Valeriy
Utkin Dmitriy
Matuseev Nikolay
Prigozhin Evgeniy

Crew members:
Levshin Aleksei, commander;
Karimov Rustam, co-pilot;
Raspopova Kristina,… pic.twitter.com/vV6cJbXFLj

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

It was still not confirmed if he was on the plane, but a Telegram channel linked to Prigozhin's Wagner Group mercenary forces pronounced him dead, Reuters reported.

⚡️ Operative services in the Kremlin received video from cameras of Prigozhin and Utkin boarding the downed plane, Russian media reported. pic.twitter.com/N00lIK9Wf3

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

Yevgeny Prigozhin on the front pages of the world media pic.twitter.com/rmKJUPQOng

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

❗️ Together with Prigozhin, Dmitry Utkin was in the crashed plane. PMC "Wagner" was named after him.

Exclusively for our super subscribers, we have published a big post about who the famous commander of the "Wagner" PMC was and why the PMC was named after him. We also wrote… pic.twitter.com/EP3gTZ43uL

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 24, 2023

All the bodies of those who died as a result of the crash of #Prigozhin's plane were taken out of the crash site and sent to the morgue for a forensic medical examination.

Before the fall, the Embraer plane lost 2.4 km of altitude in 30 seconds. Prior to this, there had been no… pic.twitter.com/TWroD7jFg0

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 24, 2023

Biden told reporters on Wednesday he did not know for a fact what had happened. "But I’m not surprised," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

US President Joe Biden was informed about the plane crash in the Tver region, the White House said. pic.twitter.com/IhyfWqyjXS

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

"There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don’t know enough to know the answer," Biden added.

Biden on Prigozhin's death: I don't know exactly what happened, but I'm not surprised. There's not much going on in Russia that doesn't have Putin behind it. pic.twitter.com/SQXbQZRJAC

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

Prigozhin led a mutiny against Russia's top army brass in late June, according to reports at the time.

Are you also waiting for an hour-long video that starts with, "I'm Yevgeny Prigozhin and if you're watching this video, it means I'm already dead, now I'm going to tell you how it all happened"? pic.twitter.com/Ga2ffyow8r

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2023

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.

Thursday is day 547 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(gs)

Source: PAP, Reuters