Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for the first time about yesterday’s plane crashthe BBC broadcasts.

He expressed his condolences to the families of the dead and described Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman.

In a televised address, Putin said investigators would look into what happened but that it would take time.

He said he was informed about Wednesday’s plane crash on Thursday morning

Putin also continued that “as far as I know, Prigozhin just yesterday [Τετάρτη] returned from Africa. He met some officials there.”

In recent days the head of Wagner is believed to have been in West Africa, where Western analysts have raised fears that the group is seeking to expand its presence in other countries, including Niger, where a coup has just taken place.

“I have known Prigozhin for a long time, since the early 1990s,” the Russian president continued in his televised speech.

In an apparent reference to Wagner’s mutiny in June, Putin said: “He was a person with a complicated fate and made serious mistakes in life, but he also tried to achieve the necessary results, both for himself and at the time of his I asked for the common cause, as these last months.”

We will not forget Wagner’s role in Ukraine

According to information, next to Prigozhin on the plane was his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, as well as five other members of Wagner and three crew members.

“Initial data indicates that members of Wagner were on board,” Putin admits.

“I would like to note that these are people who have made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine,” he continues. “We remember it and we know it and we will not forget it.”

Putin has often claimed the presence of neo-Nazis in Ukraine as a justification for his invasion of the country, claims that have been debunked. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.