Prigozhin plane crash may have been ‘deliberate’: Kremlin

Russian investigators were looking at the possibility that the private jet carrying Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purpose, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

The comment marked the first time that President Vladimir Putin’s regime publicly acknowledged that the rogue warlord may have been assassinated.

Speaking to reporters during his daily conference call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasized that “different versions” of what happened in the skies over the Tver region exist and are being investigated.

“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version — you know what we are talking about — let’s say, a deliberate wrongdoing,” Peskov told reporters when asked about the case.

The Kremlin flak urged reporters to wait until the probe by the Russian Investigative Committee is concluded — and ruled out the possibility of an international investigation into the crash.

“Let’s wait for the results of our Russian investigation,” Peskov said.

The Brazilian-made Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg went down in a fireball near a village in the Tver region on August 23, killing all 10 people on board, including the Wagner Group leader and his second-in-command, Dmitry Utkin.

Russia has since informed Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash under international rules “at the moment,” the Brazilian agency said.

Asked about that report, Peskov said: “First of all, the investigation is underway, the Investigative Committee is engaged in this. In this case, there can be no talk of any international aspect.”

Russia’s main investigative authority said last week it has opened a criminal case on charges of flight safety violations — a standard charge in plane crash investigations in Russia when there is no immediate reason to suspect foul play.

Villagers near the crash scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.

A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion aboard the aircraft caused the calamity.

The aviation disaster struck two months to the day after Prigozhin unleashed a short-lived mutiny aimed at overthrowing Russia’s top military brass, which prompted Putin to publicly label him a “traitor” — before hastily agreeing to a truce with the mercenary boss.

The day after the crash, Putin sent his condolences to the families of those killed and praised Prigozhin, 62, as a “talented businessman” whom he had known since the early 1990s.

“He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life,” Putin added.

The Russian leader did not attend Prigozhin’s private funeral that took place at a cemetery on the outskirts of St. Petersburg Tuesday.

The Kremlin has rejected as an “absolute lie” the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators that a vindictive Putin ordered Prigozhin’s assassination as payback for his uprising, which challenged his 23-year rule.

President Biden has said he was not surprised by Prigozhin’s death and that not much happened in Russia that Putin was not behind.

Days after the crash, Putin ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state.

With Post wires