Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Friday made his first comments on the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) Group.
The Wagner Group boss was on the business jet that crashed near Moscow, killing 10 people onboard.
Putin’s comments came 24 hours after the jet crashed.
President Putin, who said he has known “Prigozhin for many years, since the beginning of the 1990s,” however added that “he was a person with a complicated background. He made serious mistakes in his life and he achieved the necessary results.”
Putin’s full comments Reads: “What concerns this air crash, first of all, I want to express sincere condolences to the families of all those who died.
“It is always a tragedy. Indeed, if they were there and, according to the initial information, Wagner Company employees were on board, I want to note that those people made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the Nazi regime in Ukraine.
“We remember this, we know this and we will not forget this.
“I knew Prigozhin for many years, since the beginning of the 1990s. He was a person with a complicated background. He made serious mistakes in his life and he achieved the necessary results, both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause, as during the past few months.
“He was a talented person, a talented businessman. He worked not only in our country, and with good results too, but abroad too, in Africa in particular.
“He dealt with oil, gas, precious metals and stones there.
“As I learned, he returned from Africa only yesterday. He met some officials here.
“However, what happened exactly, the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning. They have already begun a preliminary investigation of this incident, and it will be conducted fully and completed.
“There is no doubt about this. We will hear soon what the investigators say.”
