Russian President Vladimir Putin entered St. George Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Mikhail Klimentyev | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin sign the order Friday requiring all mercenaries to swear allegiance to Russia, a revelation that came on the heels of the reported death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The fate of the Wagner Group – a private Russian military company with ties to conflicts in Africa, Syria and Ukraine – has been uncertain since a brief uprising in June.
Prigozhin marched his Wagner mercenaries on Moscow following months of frustration stemming from Russia’s lack of battlefield successes in Ukraine. The rebellion was quietly quelled between Putin and his former personal chef Prigozhin and the former Kremlin confidant was exiled to Belarus.
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On Thursday, Putin issued quick, impersonal remarks to the families involved in the plane crash believed to have killed Prigozhin and top Wagner officials. The doomed flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg was described as Putin’s “public execution” of Prigozhin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner Group military company, arrives at a funeral ceremony at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, April 8, 2023.
AP
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the downing of the plane.
Putin said an investigation into what happened to the private jet was underway.
Russian investigators said the identification of the 10 individuals found at the crash site was underway. Additionally, flight recorders from the aircraft were obtained and subjected to forensic testing.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he had made no security guarantees to Prigozhin following the Wagner uprising in Russia but added that Putin was not behind the plane crash.
“I can’t imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame for this,” Lukashenko said.
The Pentagon said Thursday that initial intelligence indicates the Wagner chief died in Wednesday’s plane crash.
“Prigozhin has likely been killed and we are continuing to assess the situation,” US Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said at a Pentagon briefing.
“The press reporting that there was some type of surface-to-air missile; we assess that information to be inaccurate,” Ryder said, declining to elaborate.
CNBC and NBC News have not confirmed Prigozhin’s death.
![Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, is listed as a passenger in the fatal plane crash](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107261976-16875527882023-06-21t100553z_1723182241_rc27a0aoci7o_rtrmadp_0_france-africa.jpeg?v=1692824270&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)