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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 5, 2023. Photo/Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/REUTERS
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (5/10/2023) revealed that a stash of cocaine was found in the offices of the private military company Wagner Group.
Wagner’s boss, businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a plane crash in August, two months after launching a brief failed uprising.
“We know that… (the Federal Security Service) not only found 10 billion (rubles) in cash in the company’s (office) in St Petersburg, but also 5 kilograms of cocaine,” Putin said at a Valdai Discussion Club session in Sochi.
Police and security officials raided Wagner’s property shortly after Prigozhin’s uprising.
On June 23, Prigozhin announced his troops would move towards Moscow, but withdrew the next day after reaching an agreement with the authorities.
Prigozhin and several close associates died on August 23, when his business jet crashed in western Russia.
Speaking at the Valdai forum, Putin shared some of the findings of the investigation into the crash.
“The chairman of the Investigative Committee recently told me that fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the victims,” said president Putin.
Putin explained, “There was no external impact on the plane. Now this is a confirmed fact.”
The president added that the body had not been examined for traces of drugs and alcohol. “I believe that such an examination must be carried out,” he said.
Putin previously praised Wagner fighters for their role in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
At the same time, he said in August that Prigozhin had made “serious mistakes,” and that he had deceived his own men when inciting the uprising.
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