The US Defense Department said Thursday that there is currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile shot down the plane allegedly carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
US Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, offered no evidence or further details about what US officials believe caused the crash.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States was considering a number of theories about what caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash, citing two US officials as saying it was likely hit by a surface-to-air missile.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that the information was still preliminary and under review, and they did not rule out a change in the assessment.
Russian air authorities said Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin and eight other people were on the private plane that crashed without survivors northwest of Moscow on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported on a different theory Thursday, citing unnamed US officials: that a bomb on board the plane or some other sabotage caused the crash.
The accident came two months after Prigozhin and his Wagner group mercenaries staged a mutiny in which they seized control of a southern city, Rostov-on-Don, and advanced on Moscow.
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he was not surprised by reports that Prigozhin had been killed in a plane crash, adding that not much happens in Russia without President Vladimir Putin behind it.
Putin said on Thursday that he wished to express his sincere condolences to the families of those killed, saying it was necessary to wait for the result of the official investigation.
Prigozhin, 62, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, frequently criticized top Russian military commanders for what he said was their incompetent management of the war in Ukraine.
The Embraer business jet model that crashed in Russia had registered only one accident in more than 20 years of service, and it was not related to a mechanical failure.
