Russia will not agree to joint probe with Brazil into Prigozhin plane crash – Reuters
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Russia has informed the Brazilian aircrash investigation authority that it will not allow an independent international investigation into the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet in which Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the private military company Wagner, was killed, the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Aug. 28.
Read also: Putin ‘most likely’ behind Prigozhin's alleged death, says former British army chief
“They are not obliged, only recommended to do that,” Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno, head of Brazil’s Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents or CENIPA told Reuters after the agency sent an email last week asking Russia whether it would open such a probe.
CENIPA said in an emailed statement it had received a response from Russian Interstate Aviation Committee – Commission on Accident Investigation, with the Russian authority saying it would not open such an investigation for now.
Read also: Prigozhin likely killed over control of Wagner’s Africa business — Bellingcat
CENIPA said that in the interests of improving aviation safety it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were to be invited, and the probe would be conducted according to international rules.
Meanwhile, former U.S. air crash investigators have told the media that Russia should agree to a joint air crash investigation in the interests of transparency, as the United States and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the crash of the plane, which “has a good safety record.”
U.S. aviation safety consultant and former investigator John Cox said the results of any Russian investigation would always be doubtful without the participation of Brazil, the country where the plane was manufactured.
“I think it’s very sad… I think it hurts the transparency of the Russian investigation.” Cox said after being told of the Russian response.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former U.S. air crash investigator, said Russia should accept assistance from Brazil, even if CENIPA can only participate remotely.
“If they don’t, well, then that’s a sure sign that it’s not going to be a transparent investigation.”
Read also: Kremlin boosts security posture amid risks of new coup – Moscow Times
Prigozhin's airplane crash - What is known
A crash involving an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft occurred in Russia’s Tver Oblast on Aug. 23. The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) confirmed that among the passengers on board were Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary company, and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin.
According to Rosaviatsia, there were a total of ten individuals on board — seven passengers (Wagner mercenary company officials) and three crew members.
The aviation incident occurred exactly two months after a mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries.
Among the leading theories surrounding the crash are an in-flight explosion and a strike by a missile launched from the ground.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, when commenting on the potential assassination of Prigozhin on Aug. 24, referred to Prigozhin in past tense and remarked that the Wagner warlord had led a “complicated life.”
Earlier, on Aug. 27, the Investigative Committee of Russia formally officially confirmed that Prigozhin and his close associate Utkin had lost their lives as a consequence of the plane crash in Tver Oblast.
Prigozhin’s burial took place in a "closed format" at a cemetery in St. Petersburg, Wagner’s press service announced on Aug. 29.
About 30 people attended Prigozhin's funeral at the Porokhovskoe cemetery, and there were no people in military uniform present at the ceremony, according to a cemetery employee.
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