One Telegram channel which calls itself CHVK posted a sarcastic montage of Prigozhin's own voice saying: "Well of course, we sniffed a load of coke and then threw some grenades about on the plane."
A clip circulating on the Telegram messaging app shows what is believed to be the wreckage of the stricken plane burning in a field near Mariupol , with a thick trail of black smoke rising from the crash site.
"We did not start the so-called war in Ukraine. On the contrary - we are trying to finish it," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.