Putin claims hand grenade fragments have been discovered in the wreckage of the jet crash which killed his Wagner chief nemesis Yevgeny Prigozhin

Vladimir Putin has claimed that fragments of hand grenades have been recovered from the wreckage of a plane crash that killed his arch-enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In an apparent attempt to deflect responsibility, the Russian president hinted that an accidental explosion would occur aboard the plane carrying the Wagner chief.

Weeks after leading an uprising against the Kremlin, Prigozhin was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg on a private jet on August 23 when the plane caught fire.

The executive Embraer aircraft then plummeted to Earth, killing Prigozhin, his bodyguards and other Wagner commanders.

Fingers were immediately pointed at President Putin, who had had a spectacular row with Prigozhin over the war in Ukraine.

Weeks after leading an uprising against the Kremlin, Prigozhin was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg on a private jet on August 23 when it caught fire (photo)

While since the beginning of the conflict, several of Putin’s opponents have met a gruesome end.

Western intelligence officials also believe that the explosion that damaged the plane in flight was internal rather than external.

But so far only President Putin has suggested that the crash was caused by the accidental detonation of grenades by one of the passengers or crew.

Prigozhin’s uprising in June posed the most serious challenge to Putin’s rule since he came to power in 1999.

At first, the president’s response — expelling Prigozhin to neighboring Belarus — seemed unusually meek, the verdict of a president whose power was waning.

Then, exactly two months later, Prigozhin’s plane was blown out of the sky.

The executive Embraer aircraft then plummeted to Earth, killing Prigozhin, his bodyguards and other Wagner commanders. In the photo: – Russian investigators search the site of a plane crash near the village of Kuzhenkino on August 24 this year

Speaking in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said: “Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash. There was no external impact on the aircraft – this has already been established.” Putin will speak on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi

Speaking in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said: “Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash. There was no external impact on the aircraft – this has already been established.”

Putin added that he thought it was wrong that crash investigators would not conduct alcohol and drug tests on the deceased when their bodies were recovered from the crash site.

He found this relevant because Russian state officials had found quantities of cocaine during a search of Prigozhin’s private home in St. Petersburg earlier this year.