It may be some time before Western intelligence agencies can say with certainty whether Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, was aboard the plane that crashed in Russia, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday.
It remained unclear what caused the plane to drop out of the sky on Wednesday, although preliminary U.S. intelligence reports pointed to an internal explosion.
Mr. Prigozhin was listed on the plane’s manifest and is presumed dead, but the Wagner Group has not confirmed his death, nor has the Russian government.
Even if the Russian authorities were not forthcoming about what happened to the plane, General Milley said he expected the truth to come out.
“Even on things like this, eventually you figure it out,” he told reporters, adding, “I can assure you that, to my knowledge, the United States had nothing to do with any of this whatsoever.”
Persons:
Yevgeny V, Wagner, Mark, Prigozhin, Milley, ”
Organizations:
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Locations:
Russia, Russian, United States