The Kremlin denied Friday having ordered the assassination of the leader of the Wagner group Evguéni Prigojine and summoned the paramilitaries to take an oath of “loyalty” to Russia, two months after their abortive coup.
Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s spokesman, called an “absolute lie” the insinuations of Western leaders that the Kremlin had orchestrated the crash of the plane carrying Mr Prigozhin on Wednesday.
“Currently, around the air disaster and the tragic deaths of passengers, in particular Yevgeny Prigojine, there is a lot of speculation and we know well in which direction we are speculating in the West,” he also said.
Many critics of the Russian regime or its disgraced ex-supporters have been killed or targeted in assassination attempts. The Kremlin has always denied any involvement.
Investigators, for their part, said that the investigations are ongoing. They announced at the start of the evening that they had recovered the ten bodies of the victims from the scene of the crash as well as the flight recorders and indicated that “molecular genetic analyzes” were in progress to establish their identity.
“The investigation will thoroughly check all possible versions of what happened,” the Russian Investigative Committee insisted on Telegram.
The Kremlin’s closest ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, backed the Kremlin by saying he “cannot imagine” Vladimir Putin giving the order to assassinate Wagner’s boss.
“I know Putin,” said Mr Lukashenko, quoted by the state news agency Belta. “He’s a thoughtful man, very calm” and the crash was “too brutal and amateurish work”.
And Moscow did not wait very long to reframe the thousands of paramilitaries, obliged by a presidential decree since Friday to take the oath as soldiers of the regular army do.
In particular, they will have to swear “fidelity” and “loyalty” to Russia, “strictly follow the orders of commanders and superiors” and “sacredly respect the Russian Constitution”.
For its part, Belarus said it wanted to keep “the hard core” of Wagner according to a “built” scheme with Evgueni Prigojine before the crash.
“Wagner lived, Wagner is alive and Wagner will live in Belarus,” he insisted, without specifying for what mission and for how long these mercenaries would serve in Belarus.
Vladimir Putin had called Yevgeny Prigojine, whom he had known since the 1990s, a traitor because of his armed rebellion on June 23 and 24.
He spoke Thursday evening, after 24 hours of silence, of a “talented” man who had made “mistakes”, and also praised the role played by Wagner on the front in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigojine had given up his mutiny after an agreement which provided for his exile with his men in Belarus and the abandonment of the proceedings.
However, he continued to visit Russia and was received at least once in the Kremlin in June. The following month, he was in Saint Petersburg on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit, a continent on which Wagner is particularly active.
Dmitri Peskov nevertheless denied Friday any recent meeting between MM. Putin and Prigozhin.
On Thursday, residents of St. Petersburg, where the group was based, marched to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial, a sign of the warlord’s popularity with some, who appreciated his nationalism and outspokenness willingly critical of the Russian elites.
“For us he was a friend, a brother. I think for all the soldiers it’s a very important moment,” said Natalia, 31, who rode her bike to put her bouquet in the shade of the glass building. where Wagner established his HQ.
In Washington, Paris, Berlin or kyiv, senior officials have implied that their suspicions are focused on the Kremlin.
The Pentagon, for its part, said it had “no information indicating that a surface-to-air missile” had been fired against the device, while groups on Telegram close to Wagner mention this track.
Wagner, who left Ukraine after his rebellion, remains active in Africa but his future is now up in the air. Wherever it has been deployed, this group is accused of abuses, extrajudicial executions and torture.
25/08/2023 19:23:03 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
