WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash, and cited two U.S. officials saying a surface-to-air missile likely hit it.
Russian air authorities have said Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, and eight other people were on the private plane that crashed with no survivors northwest of Moscow on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported a different theory, citing unnamed U.S. officials: that a bomb aboard the aircraft or some other sabotage caused the crash.
The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny in which they took control of a southern city, Rostov, and advanced towards Moscow.
Prigozhin, 62, head of the Wagner mercenary group, frequently criticized the Russian army top brass over what he said was its incompetent prosecution of the war in Ukraine.
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