Allies of the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have voiced new critiques recently against Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for a second march on Moscow and warning that his recent remarks about his death make the situation "worse."
Relations between Russia and the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization that for months fought alongside Putin's troops in the Ukraine war, deteriorated after the organization launched an attempted mutiny against Moscow in late June over the stagnant nature of the invasion. The attempted rebellion ultimately failed, with the organization being banished to neighboring Belarus and Prigozhin later dying in a plane crash, straining relations between the two former allies.
Putin has enraged Prigozhin's allies after speculating on the cause of the plane crash that killed the Wagner Group founder in August. During a press conference at the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday, the Russian leader speculated on the victims' bodies to determine whether they were under the influence at the time of the crash, though there has been no proof that drugs or alcohol were on board of the aircraft at the time.