Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin "was a man of difficult fate" who "made serious mistakes in life."
Speaking at the Kremlin to Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), which Moscow considers a part of its territory, Putin noted Prigozhin "was a talented person, a talented businessman" both in Russia and abroad, especially in Africa.
Putin expressed his condolences to the families of all the people who lost their lives in the crash of the plane Prigozhin was in yesterday and specifically spoke about Prigozhin in the past tense, although the businessman has not been officially declared dead. "I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, from the beginning of the nineties," Putin pointed out.