Joe Biden draws rebuke from Russia for speculating Putin's hand in Prigozhin's jet crash

Joe Biden confirmed that the United States is diving deep into uncovering the truth behind the jet crash in Russia that is said to have killed Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier this week. At a press briefing on Friday, the POTUS expressed no surprise over Prigozhin's reported demise. 

"I’m not at liberty to speak to that precisely. I find no surprise in what happened. But we’re trying to nail down precisely," he told a reporter who had asked what could have brought down the aircraft that the mercenary chief was on. Earlier this week, Biden had hinted that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was likely behind what could be an assassination.

"I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer," he said in Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, according to the official website of the White House. 

But Biden's allusion was sharply criticised by Russia as a complete disregard in terms of diplomacy. "I think that Washington officials' speculations about what is happening in our country are a reflection of blatant disregard for diplomatic methods. After all, in my opinion, the US president is not in a position to speculate on the subject of certain tragic events of this or that nature," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS. 

Prigozhin's jet crash: All you need to know

The speculations surrounding Prigozhin come after Russian media reported on Wednesday that a private plane carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, senior commander Dmitry Utkin, seven passengers, and three crew members suffered a crash on its way to St Petersburg. Everyone onboard was killed. 

Soon after, speculations ran amok that the accident was conspired by the Russian defence ministry at the behest of Putin over the mutiny that Prigozhin led two months ago. On June 23, Wagner troops advanced toward Moscow to topple the country's military leadership. Their bid, however, was squashed within a day and Prigozhin was subsequently exiled to Belarus as part of deal struck by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko between the Russian military and the mercenary group.