Putin sends condolences, says Prigozhin was ‘talented businessman’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin made “serious mistakes” — but praised the warlord, who led a rebellion against him over the summer, as “a talented businessman” while offering his condolences following his death in a fatal plane crash.

“It is always a tragedy,” Putin said in a televised event Thursday in regards to the apparent death of Prigozhin and 9 other occupants aboard the plane.

“I knew Prigozhin for many years, since the beginning of the 1990s. He was a person with a complicated background,” Putin said of his former ally. 

“He made serious mistakes in his life and he achieved the necessary results, both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause, as during the past few months.”

Putin also touted Prigozhin’s business prowess as a Russian oligarch, who previously secured about $1 billion in government contracts for his catering company to provide food to the army as he also headed the Wagner mercenary group that fought in the frontlines of the Ukraine war.  

Although Prigozhin was believed to have been banished to Belarus over his failed coup attempt against the Kremlin in June, Putin claimed the Wagner chief was working in Africa as his business empire also dealt with “oil, gas, precious metals and stones there.” 

The Russian president ultimately expressed his condolences to the Wagner forces who appeared to have perished in the crash, noting that officials are still working to examine the bodies to confirm the casualties. 

“Indeed, if they were there and, according to the initial information, Wagner Company employees were on board, I want to note that those people made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the Nazi regime in Ukraine,” Putin said as he vilified their mutual enemy.  

Who was Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman following the plane crash that apparently killed him.

Prigozhin was the owner of the private military contractor Wagner Group.

Prigozhin planned to capture the Russian military’s top officials during his attempted coup.

Prigozhin and his mercenary fighting force did not face charges and were instead exiled despite leading an armed insurrection against the Kremlin.

Prigozhin began his career as a petty criminal — he was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981 and served 12 years in prison.

He criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense as incompetent and accused it of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who were fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.

Prigozhin was indicted in the United States for interfering in the 2016 presidential election through his infamous internet “troll factory.”

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Prigozhin was listed as one of 10 passengers aboard the Embraer aircraft that crashed on Wednesday with no survivors.

However, speculation has grown that Prigozhin may have evaded the fiery fate after news spread that a second private jet linked to the Wagner group landed safely in St. Petersburg around the same time as the crash.

The false death report wouldn’t be the first of its kind as Prigozhin was previously reported dead in July following his alleged meeting with Putin over Wagner’s botched rebellion. 

And Prigozhin, himself, once faked his own death in Africa in 2019 before showing his face again three days later. 

With Post wires