WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden did not rule out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s involvement in a plane crash on Wednesday that may have killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a business jet flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg that crashed Wednesday in Russia. It was not immediately clear whether the mercenary, who led an attempted uprising against Putin’s government in June, was on board the plane, authorities said. The crash killed 10 people.
Biden, who is on vacation in Lake Tahoe with his family, said of the incident, “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised.”
In response to a reporter who asked whether Putin was behind the plane crash, Biden said, “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.
“I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half,” Biden added after finishing a Pilates and spin workout with first lady Jill Biden and other members of his family.
The White House said prior to Biden’s comments that it would not be surprised if Prigozhin was aboard the plane.
“We have seen the reports,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said. “If confirmed, no one should be surprised. The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now – it would seem – to this.”
Contributing: The Associated Press