Stano speaks of the death of Prigozhi: Hard to verify his murder

The European Union says it is a difficult “to verify” reports that Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been killed in a plane crash Wednesday evening, CNN reports.

“We have seen the report about the plane crash that allegedly killed Yevgeny Pigozin, the Wagner group's chief, along with members of his siege and crew members”, said Peter Stano, the bloc's chief spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy at a press conference Thursday.

But again, like many other things in Russia, this is very difficult to verify for us” Stano added.

Stano said the “negative” of Prigozhin and Wagner group are widely known, pointing to his involvement in the Ukrainian war and his operations in African countries.

“wherever they [the Wagner group] were present, were present or were present, have left traces of human rights violations, [and] international humanitarian law. There are many responsibilities, there are unclear rules under which they function”, Stano said.

The group's future operations will not only be influenced by the alleged “death of Prigozhin”, but also by the “events in June” when the group decided to march towards Moscow in a short-lived rebellion, he added.

Stano said that although the EU hopes the negative “impact” of Wagner's operations will cease, the bloc is aware that the mercenary group “is not linked only to the name of its leader”.

He said that belonging to the group with the Kremlin is one of several complex issues, while he also stressed that it is not up to the EU to speculate whether Prigozy's alleged murder or death in a plane crash will have any specific consequences on Wagner's” activities.