Boris Johnson has said that Vladimir Putin’s “mask is now fully off”, as world leaders and commentators continue to question his role in the death of Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The former prime minister has described the downing of the Wagner chief’s plane as “violent liquidation” and claimed that Putin was “being transformed before our eyes into an Asiatic despot”.
“I cannot think of another example of such ostentatious and uninhibited savagery by a world leader – not in our lifetimes,” he said.
Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) had been former allies until their relationship soured in June
Describing the Russian president as a “gangster” in his latest column for the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson added: “The whole world knows full well – and is intended to know – that the man behind the killing of Prigozhin and the Wagner group leadership, not the mention the deaths of the crew, is the very same man who authorised, for instance, the poisonings in the UK of Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal.”
Prigozhin is believed to have been killed when his Embraer jet crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday evening.
Dramatic footage showed the plane falling to the ground, with Russian investigators confirming that they had recovered 10 bodies from the plane crash with DNA identification currently underway.
While Prigozhin’s death has not been confirmed by officials, he was listed as a passenger on a flight manifest published by the Russian aviation agency.
A former key ally of Putin, their relationship soured after Prigozhin ordered his troops to march on Moscow in a day-long rebellion against the Kremlin’s military leaders in June.
Russian investigators confirmed 10 bodies had been onboard the plane
He had refused to submit his mercenaries to direct state control, despite a direct request from Putin and later travelled to Belarus after his “march of justice” was halted.
Western intelligence officials have briefed media that Prigozhin, who founded the Wagner Group in 2014, was most likely to have been killed by an explosion onboard the plane on Putin’s orders.
In a daily intelligence update on Friday, the UK Ministry of Defence said: “There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures. However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead.”
Boris Johnson said “gangster” Vladimir Putin had displayed “uninhibited savagery”
A Kremlin spokesperson denied Prigozhin had been assassinated and called western intelligence assessments of the president’s involvement “an absolute lie”.
In his column, Mr Johnson stated it would be “completely and utterly fatuous” to place any trust in a deal with Putin, and renewed his call for a clear victory for Ukraine.
“Prigozhin thought he had guarantees,” he said. “Prigozhin thought he had sorted it out. Look at that deal now. Look what happened to him. There is only one way forward – defeat for Putin, and victory for Ukraine, as fast as possible.”
