Kremlin dismisses speculation it ordered Prigozhin’s death as ‘lies’

The Kremlin on Friday curtly dismissed the rampant speculation that it ordered the killing of Wagner Group chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin as “all lies,” and said an investigation now underway will establish the cause of the plane crash in which he and nine others are presumed to have died.

A day after President Vladimir Putin referred to Prigozhin in the past tense as a “talented man” who “made mistakes,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lamented the “tragic deaths” of the passengers and crew of the Embraer 600 business jet, “including Yevgeniy Prigozhin,” that crashed Wednesday in the Tver region of Russia.