whereabouts, he toyed with an awful lot after the coup, images of someone looking like him getting on and off a helicopter in st. petersburg. his actions, frankly, the wagner group, were occurring in the shadows until recently indeed. and so for western investigators, being at a crash scene as horrific as that that you have seen from the wreckage of the plane that fell out of the sky would be a challenge for them, frankly, to piece together from the remains dna enough to be absolutely sure who had been on that plane. what we do know is that the passenger list said he should be there, russian aviation said he got on that plane. for the most part, there will be a element of mystery potentially because thank you, that is where putin s russia functions, where the information is often in the hands of the state. no exception here. and also important to point out prigozhin was a man who had crossed putin in ways putin had
the biggest he d had in 24 years. so it is not exactly at this stage what happened to yevgeny prigozhin. the preponderance of information swirling around this plane crash would suggest that he is on board. i should point out, we did not know where he was for days after the failed armed rebellion. there were apparent sightings of him in a mosque getting on a helicopter in st. petersburg. there were suggestions his plane was headed to belarus. the fact that he s on this passenger manifest of this rare private jet linked to him tracked around the world is a clear indication something is afoot. the way russian state media has leaped upon this and put the manifest out early would suggest that he may have passed but, until essentially we see some clear proof that he has died, or recognition from those around him in the wagner group that is indeed the case, this is still a deep mystery. i should point out, too, the
past been a master of obfuscating where he is, pictures of him getting on and off a helicopter in st. petersburg after that rebellion to confuse the trail of where he was. the balance of information we re hearing tonight does seem to suggest according to certain russian state officials, he was on board that aircraft and this is a significant moment, frankly, in putin s grip on power. he clearly felt prigozhin was. so of a threat that he, if indeed it turned out the kremlin is behind this, wanted to see him dead and at the same time, too, you have to remember this is yevgeny prigozhin, it seems on, a plane with his key top lieutenants. they clearly all felt safe enough to travel together on a private jet like this, putting themselves so deeply vulnerable, they must have thought the threat was passed. but something certainly was totally against that perception, wolf. thank you. now to the latest on what russia is saying about this plane crash.