Late mercenary chief made “serious mistakes in life,” Putin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed his condolences to the families of the ten people who died in a plane crash inside Russia. The crash on Wednesday reportedly killed the leader of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The general-for-hire in June led a short and mostly peaceful rebellion against the Kremlin. Putin added in his public remarks Thursday that he and Prigozhin had known each other for decades and called Prigozhin a talented businessman. He added that Prigozhin had made “serious mistakes in life.”

Was foul play involved in the jet crash? Russian authorities have said the cause of the crash is under investigation. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that “not much that happens in Russia that Putin isn’t behind.” A preliminary report by U.S. intelligence on Thursday suggested that Prigozhin’s death occurred as the intended result of an explosion, U.S. officials said.

Dig deeper: Read Evgeny Kosykh’s report in WORLD Magazine about the mercenary Wagner Group.