Putin unveils previously unknown details about Prigozhin plane crash

Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and other passengers of the Embraer-135 plane that crashed on August 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his speech at the plenary session of the Valdai Forum on Thursday, October 5.

Putin learned the information from Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of he Russian Investigative committee. There was no external impact on Prigozhin's plane, Putin added.

"Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the plane crash, but there was no external action on the plane. This is an already established fact, the results of the examination conducted by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation,” Putin said adding that the investigation had not been completed yet.

One should look into the presence of alcohol or drugs in the bodies of the plane crash victims as well, Putin said. He also recalled that the FSB found 10 billion rubles in cash and 5 kilograms of cocaine in Prigozhin's office in St. Petersburg.

"In my opinion, such an examination should have been carried out, but it was not carried out,” the president said.

Prigozhin's plane crashed on August 23 near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region as it was flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg. All ten people on board were killed. In addition to Prigozhin, the list of passengers included PMC Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin, Nikolai Matuseev, Valery Chekalov, Alexander Totmin, Evgeny Makaryan and Sergey Propustin. There were also three crew members on board the plane.