Putin claims Prigozhin’s plane crashed because the Wagner leadership got drunk and/or high, then set off hand grenades during the flight.

Seems legit, definitely no further questions about that incident, we can all move on pic.twitter.com/JeM8ljlibi

— max seddon (@maxseddon) October 5, 2023

Putin told an annual meeting of the Valdai Club in Sochi on Thursday that Prigozhin and his men likely got drunk or possibly high, and were playing with grenades.

Bloomberg, which picked up on the unexpected public comments, wrote: “Russian President Vladimir Putin said pieces of grenade were found in the bodies of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and other mercenary leaders who died in a plane crash, as he hinted that the man who led an armed revolt against the Kremlin’s military leadership had been a drug user.”

Putin said, “In the bodies of those who died in the air crash fragments of hand grenades were found.”

[Uh … sure. There may have been hand grenades on the plane, but fragments of them on the ground don’t prove those were detonated. Writing Prigozhin off as a drug addict raises questions about Putin’s judgment too. If Putin knew that Prigozhin was an addict, why give him command of a mercenary army? Especially since Prigozhin was a caterer rather than a military man? — Ed]