The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has continued this Thursday with his official agenda oblivious to the controversy that has generated the air accident that cost the life of his former ally on Wednesday Yevgeni Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, on which the Russian Government has not officially ruled.

Putin has stuck to the script in a speech delivered by videoconference to the BRICS leaders’ summit and has limited himself to claim “influence” of this association, which is now expanding, and the need to move forward on issues such as a common currency. “I want to tell colleagues that we will continue the cause that we have started with you to expand the influence of the BRICS in the world,” the Kremlin chief said.

The Russian president was the only BRICS leader not to attend the south africa meetingsince he has delegated to his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, after knowing that he was pointed out by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine. However, Lavrov has opted for a low-key role and, in fact, has also avoided speaking to reporters on Thursday, so the minister has also managed to dodge potential questions about the circumstances surrounding Prigozhin’s death.

The federal air transport agency did confirm late Wednesday that the wagner leader was among the passengers of a private plane that crashed for unknown reasons. The ten people on board died, including Dimitri Utkin, another of the founders of the mercenary group.