The Russian government believes it is 'not necessary' for an international investigation to be conducted into the plane crash in which Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was most likely killed. Russia is investigating the issue itself, the Kremlin says. It is also examined whether the plane crash was caused intentionally.

Immediately after the plane crashed, it was suggested that Russia shot down the plane. The leader of the mercenary army regularly expressed harsh criticism of the Russian military top in particular and even turned against the Russian authority in a brief mutiny. The Kremlin has previously dismissed allegations that Putin was behind the crash as lies.

Putin's spokesperson does not say who could be behind the crash. He said that the Russian investigation must be awaited. "Obviously, different variants are being looked at, including the variant - you know what we're talking about - of, say, deliberate wrongdoing," said Dmitri Peskov.

Last night it appeared that the Brazilian aviation authority CENIPA could not investigate the circumstances, even though the crashed aircraft was an Embraer Legacy 600 of Brazilian manufacture. According to the official passenger lists, Prigozhin was on board with nine others, including Wagner's second in-command.

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)