Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has said that Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin made serious mistakes.
Putin stated this in a condolence message to the deceased family.
The Wagner chief and nine others died when a plane conveying them crashed near Moscow on Wednesday.
The plane crash is believed in some quarters to have killed Prigozhin and Wagner’s co-founder Dmirty Utkin, as western forces debate the possible causes of the incident.
Earlier on Thursday, anonymous United States (U.S.) officials said they believed it had been caused by a surface-to-air missile.
But a statement Thursday evening from the Pentagon ruled that possibility out.
The U.S. Department of Defence 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.
Brig.-Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, offered no further details or evidence as he made his remarks at a Pentagon news conference.
Reuters reported earlier yesterday that the U.S. was looking at a number of theories over what caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash.
A preliminary Washington intelligence assessment found that the plane crash was initially caused by an explosion.
While officials did not give any further details about what set off the detonation, one highlighted the explosion fell in line with Putin’s ‘long history of trying to silence his critics’.
In a television address, Putin said Prigozhin had ‘made serious mistakes’ as he offered ‘condolences’ to the families of the ten victims who died in the Tver region, around 60 miles North of the capital.
Putin said: ”This afternoon: ‘What concerns this air crash, first of all, I want to express sincere condolences to the families of all those who died.
”It is always a tragedy. Indeed, if they were there and, according to the initial information, Wagner Company employees were on board, I want to note that those people made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the Nazi regime in Ukraine.
“I had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the start of the ’90s. He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life. And he strove for the results he needed for himself, and when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months.”