The US Department of Defense on Thursday said it believes Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was “likely” killed in a plane crash outside Moscow on Wednesday.
At the same time, it said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying the Russian mercenary leader.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday: “I’m not going to go into the specifics of how we gather information other than again, our initial assessment, based on a variety of factors, is that he was likely killed.”
He offered no evidence or further details on what US officials believe caused the crash, which Russian authorities said killed 10 people, including seven passengers and three crew members.
Ryder said: “We don't have any information to indicate right now there was some type of surface to air missile that took down the plane,” adding that the Pentagon assessed that information to be inaccurate.
