An expert has weighed in on speculation surrounding a plane crash in Russia which killed all 10 people on board, with Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on the passenger list.
International relations expert Robert Patman told Breakfast: "Nothing has been really, fully confirmed yet.
"Interestingly, a media channel favoured by the Wagner group says the plane was shot down by air defence.
"So we'll just have to wait and see."
Asked about the speculation surrounding the crash, Patman said: "Many people are looking at the Russian government.
"People who fall out with Mr Putin — or are deemed to be an enemy of Mr Putin — often have an unhappy ending, so to speak.
"But we shouldn't rule out the possibility of other groups who may have a reason to attack Wagner's leader."
Robert Patman said "people who fall out with Mr Putin often have an unhappy ending". (Source: Breakfast)
He said Prigozhin was pro-war, and pro-Ukrainian activists may also have had motive to be involved in the incident.
"We just don't know. It may have just been plane failure, an engineering failure on the plane. We just don't know."
He said Prigozhin would have had no illusions about Putin.
"Many Russian observers believed one or the other would not survive in the course of the next six months.
"I think Mr Putin could be facing other challenges in the not-too-distant future," Patman added.
"Russia could be entering quite a turbulent domestic phase with or without Mr Prigozhin being present."
Asked whether people could expect transparency around the crash, Patman called Russia "an authoritarian state".
"I don't think we can have that expectation," he said. "Although, if Mr Putin's not involved, he may go to extraordinary lengths to try to demonstrate that it was not anything to do with him.
"As I said, there's so many people who've crossed paths with Mr Putin in the past and they haven't survived to tell the tale."
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