The Kremlin has dismissed rumours it had requested the assassination of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who reportedly died in a plane crash on Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a briefing,”There is a lot of speculation around the plane crash and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin … All this is an absolute lie.”
Ukraine’s deputy minister of defence has told the programme that the Wagner mercenary group will struggle without the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The group has been instrumental in Russia’s war against Ukraine, but was split up following the failed rebellion in June – with fighters told they could either join the regular army or go to Belarus.
On 23 June 2023, the Wagner Group, a Russian government-funded paramilitary and private military company, staged a rebellion after a period of increasing tensions between the Russian Ministry of Defence and the leader of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. An agreement to settle this conflict was reached between the two sides the next day, 24 June 2023.
