Fiona Hill said “I doubt it” when asked if anyone in the diplomatic community believes that Vladimir Putin has nothing to do with the plane crash.
Former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill said Sunday that the was “so dramatic” that “one has to ask whether this was done for the demonstrative effect of it.”
“We have had some mysterious plane crashes in the past taking down Russian leaders,” said Hill on “Face the Nation.” “There was a very famous general, Alexander Lebed, for example, who died in a helicopter crash, so it’s not something that is unheard of. In- in other settings as well, of course, we’ve had Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, where there have been the loss of key people in plane crashes, so I think this is par for the course, unfortunately.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee on Sunday said it confirmed that the remains of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin were positively identified, along with the nine others who were aboard died in a plane that crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s Tver region. The private jet northwest of Moscow, and Prigozhin and other high-ranking members of the Wagner Group were listed on its passenger manifest.
Hill, who served as the senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council during the Trump administration, noted that last month, Prigozhin’s forces had shot down Russian military aircraft during his march to Moscow.
