Twisted Putin offers 'condolences' to Prigozhin's family and sneers that Wagner boss 'made mistakes'
Charlotte Adams
Published Sep 27, 2026
MURDERED Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin “made serious mistakes in his life”, tyrant Vladimir Putin sneered last night.
The Russian despot is believed to have ordered the revenge hit on the warlord’s private jet two months after he led a rebellion.
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Putin tellingly mentioned the traitor’s failings in a fake tribute, saying: “I had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the start of the ’90s.
"He was a talented person, a talented businessman, he worked not only in our country but also abroad, in Africa in particular.
“He was involved there with oil, gas, precious metals and stones.
“He was a man with a difficult fate — and he made serious mistakes in life.”
Sabotage emerged as the prime theory for Wednesday’s crash which killed Prigozhin, 62, deputy Dmitry Utkin and eight others.
Their Embraer Legacy 600 is said to have exploded at 28,000ft midway between Moscow and St Petersburg before crashing.
Billionaire Prigozhin is believed to have sealed his own doom by allowing a case of vintage wine on board.
One theory is the cargo contained a hidden device placed to cause catastrophic damage — with the FSB security service suspected.
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Paying false respects, Putin said: “I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families of all the victims.
“It is always a tragedy. Indeed, if employees of the Wagner company were there and the preliminary data indicates they were.
“These people made a significant contribution to our common cause of combating the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. We shall not forget.”
In late June Prigozhin led his troops to within 120 miles of Moscow in the biggest threat to Putin’s 20-year rule.
At the time Putin branded him a traitor. Yesterday he claimed he knew nothing of the cause of his old friend’s death and pledged a thorough investigation.
But the sham probe will almost certainly clear him of blame and point the finger at his “terrorist” enemies from Ukraine.
Putin said: “As far as I know, he just returned yesterday from Africa.
“He met some officials here. The head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning.
“They have already begun a preliminary investigation. It will be carried out in full, and taken right to the end. There are no doubts about this. Let’s see what the investigators say.”
Witnesses in Kuzhenkino, a town near the crash site, said they saw no sign of smoke trails from missiles.
Anastasia Bukharova, 27, was walking with her children when she saw the jet.
She said: “Boom! It exploded and began to fall. Something sort of was torn from it in the air, and it began to go down.”
Experts said examination of video footage also showed no missile trails.
Handlers of Prigozhin’s plane at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow were interrogated yesterday.
Investigators vowed to quiz all personnel with access to its hangar, and will also probe a mystery delay for “repairs” before take-off.
Crash experts sifting through the debris were also investigating a theory that a bomb was attached to the landing gear — possibly during the delay.
A Moscow source said: “According to preliminary data, an explosive device was placed in the landing gear area which caused the explosion in the sky.
“This is one of the versions of the investigation.
“As a result the wing was torn off and it hit the stabiliser.
“The business jet began to gain altitude sharply, and then went into a tailspin. All people on board instantly lost consciousness due to explosive depressurisation.
Branded a traitor
“That’s why the pilots could not report the emergency situation. It was impossible to save the plane without a wing and a stabiliser.”
The tail section was reported to have landed almost three miles from the fuselage because the plane exploded in the air, the report said.
Another source with law enforcement links said the main theory was that a bomb was planted in the service section of the plane, close to the washroom.
The source said: “Investigators were especially interested in whether there were new employees who had just recently joined the workforce.”
Focus was also aimed at Prigozhin’s usual pilot Artem Stepanov.
He had access to the jet but went on holiday before the doomed flight, to one of Russia’s most remote regions, Kamchatka. Moscow sources said he was being “actively sought”.
His co-pilot Kirill Shcherbakov was also reported to have gone missing after dodging duty.
The owner of the jet and head of MNT Aero, Olga Gubareva, was also reported to be on holiday and out of contact with authorities.
Russia’s fake news factory went into overdrive last night as theories swirled.
A Kremlin source told a news outlet that Russian authorities “will most likely shift the blame on to Ukraine’s intelligence services — as the Kremlin has done repeatedly”.
And military expert Yuri Knutov said the investigation was likely to conclude terrorism was to blame amid reports the black box flight recorders had not been recovered.
But Ukraine’s president Volodymr Zelensky said: “We have nothing to do with this. Everyone understands who is involved.”
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Who was on board
YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN: Former hot dog seller, 62, who won a contract to suppy the Kremlin with food.
Founded the Wagner group in 2014 — and led failed coup two months ago.
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DMITRY UTKIN: The 53-year-old neo-Nazi served in Russia’s military intelligence, the GRU.
He was a veteran of Russia's two wars in Chechnya and Prigozhin’s right-hand man.
Believed to be a co-founder of the Wagner group and was responsible for overall command and combat training.
VALERIY CHEKALOV: One of the business brains behind Wagner, the 47-year-old is thought to have been in charge of the group’s non- military activities in Africa.
YEVGENY MAKARYAN, SERGEY PROPUSTIN, ALEXANDER TOTMIN and NIKOLAY MATUSEEV: Thought to be Wagner fighters acting as bodyguards for bosses on the plane.
ALEXEI LEVSHIN: Married dad of two, 51, was the pilot.
His work for Prigozhin was a taboo subject in the family, according to relatives.
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RUSTAM KARIMOV: The 29-year-old co-pilot had worked for the company which provided flights for Prigozhin for only three months.
KRISTINA RASPOPOVA: The 39-year-old flight attendant, the only woman on board, spoke to her family shortly before they took off and posted pictures on social media.
Q&A The riddles & the fallout of the Russian jet explosion
COULD Prigozhin still be alive?
Highly unlikely but when it comes to Putin, anything is possible.
In 2019, Prigozhin was declared dead when a military plane crashed in Africa, only for it to emerge later that he was alive and well.
He is known to use body doubles or for people to fly under his name to keep his travel plans secret.
Shortly after Wednesday’s crash another of his private jets on a similar route landed safely in Moscow.
The investigation is being led by Kremlin loyalist Igor Rudenya, so we have to take Putin’s word for it.
WHAT next for Ukraine?
Wagner troops may now be redeployed to the front line, a blow to Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
But now Prigozhin is out of the way, his bitter rivals in the Russian military are in a stronger position than ever.
That is considered a boost to Ukraine as they are so incompetent.
HAS it left Putin stronger or weaker?
He was weakened by the attempted coup, so revenge makes him stronger in the short term.
This is the most high-profile death yet among those who have been willing to take a stand against the Kremlin.
It may deter others.
WHO could be behind it?
Apart from Putin, there is suspicion over Prigozhin’s main rivals in the military — defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov.
It was his anger at the way they were executing the war which led to the coup attempt.
They saw him as a threat.
But it is hard to imagine his death happening without Putin’s say so.
WHAT next for Wagner?
Russia is expected to take control.
One candidate to lead it is General Andrey Averyanov, the GRU boss tasked with foreign assassinations, including the Salisbury poisonings.
The future of thousands of Wagner troops across Europe, Africa and the Middle East remains uncertain.
But Putin will be desperate to redeploy their daunting firepower.
