United States President, Joe Biden has claimed that Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia has prior knowledge of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group.
Earlier, Russia’s agency for air transport said Prigozhin, leader of the private security outfit, was among the passengers of a flight that crashed and burst into flames immediately on Wednesday.
All 10 passengers aboard the plane were reported dead.
Prigozhin death is coming weeks after leading a coup to oust Putin from power. The coup was however later aborted after he reached some compromise with the Putin-led government.
Speaking with CNN, Biden said he wasn’t surprised that the Russian mercenary may have been targeted.
He said he knew Prighozin days were numbered the moment he failed to see through his mutiny against Biden.
“You may recall, I was asked about this,” Biden said, referencing comments he made in July in which he said Prighozin should be worried about his safety following the failed mutiny.
“I said I would be careful what I rode in. I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” CNN quoted Biden as saying.
The US president added that there is “not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind but I don’t know enough to know the answer”.
