Engineer behind mystery ‘repairs’ to Prigozhin jet is under interrogation after Putin denies brazen ‘bomb’ assassination
AN engineer who carried out last-minute repairs to the doomed plane of Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to be under interrogation by Russian authorities.
A suspected explosion led to the warlord's Embraer Legacy 600 plunging to the ground amid speculation Vladimir Putin is behind the revenge hit- which the Kremlin has denied as “absolute lies."
Exactly two months after the Wagner boss's failed coup, his private plane was blasted 28,000ft out of the sky killing all ten people onboard.
In the wake of the crash, engineer Sergey Kitrish, 41, has been under interrogation by Moscow, Telegram channel VChK-OGPU which has links to the Russian security services, has reported.
"He constantly worked with Prigozhin's aircraft and it was he who carried out the last repairs to replace the landing gear brake and turbo cooler."
Earlier this week, it was revealed that one of Prigozhin's flight attendants complained about waiting for mystery unexplained repairs to the jet before it crashed.
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New details about the repairs have emerged including a turbo-refrigerator “of unknown origin” which was fitted on the jet last minute.
Investigators believe a bomb could have been planted hidden in a wine crate during the last-minute repairs.
“Shortly after the explosion, Kitrash was taken under the care of the [Russian] special services and taken to the crash site.”
He was quizzed by leading crash investigator Col. Ivan Sibul.
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“He was interrogated and now the fate of Kitrash is being decided. They haven't let him go home yet.
“The fate of two more engineers who participated in the installation of equipment is not known."
The other engineers were named as Artur Michenkov and Aleksey Anshukov.
At the same time, the face of a woman has emerged who was on board the parked jet at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport a few hours before its final tragic flight.
Business executive Alexandra Yulina, 37, inspected the Embraer Legacy 600 amid claims of a security breach to allow her on board.
She is boss of VIP airline Rusjet and was reportedly seeking to buy the plane.
Footage was shot during her inspection of the aircraft, some eight hours before it crashed.
She was falsely registered as a passenger, and was allowed through security into the plane just hours before it took off and crashed, it was reported.
The plane’s black boxes were found at the crash site in Tver region and are being examined.
DNA tests are underway on the charred remains of the ten survivors.
“The investigation will carefully check all possible versions of what happened,” said the Russian Investigative Committee.
The death of Prigozhin has stunned the Russian elites, amid fears Putin might order the assassination of anyone who stands against him.
Prigozhin had led a coup in June against the dictator, criticising the efforts of his top war commanders.
Prigozhin’s plane manager - a woman who has not been named - told VChK-OGPU insisted she accompanied Yulina and Rusjet technical director Sergey Klokotov when they visited the plane.
They were seeking to buy it in a £4.29 million deal, it was reported.
“I actually went with them, I followed on their heels,” she said, stressing the plane was subject to high security.
“I can say for sure that they did not leave anything in the cabin, nothing.”
But she admitted there had been technical problems and these required repairs before the flight, which was delayed by more than a day.
“In addition to the turbo-cooler, the brake on the rear chassis was also changed,” she said.
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A turbo-cooler had been imported from the US evading sanctions, yet this was damaged when it fell on a warehouse floor.
An alternative part of unknown origin was fixed into the plane before its final journey, she indicated.
