Putin's thoughts on 'betrayal' resurface following Prigozhin's plane crash

Footage resurfaced online of Vladimir Putin's opinion on 'betrayal' following reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, who was on board a plane that crashed in Russia on Wednesday.

The brief snippet has since made its rounds on X/Twitter)and is taken from a 2018 documentary based on the Russian president.

The interviewer asks Putin: "Does one need to be able to forgive?"

"Yes, but not everything," he responded.

"What can't be forgiven?" the interviewer asked to which Putin said: "Betrayal."

It comes after reports that Prigozhin was among 10 others involved in a plane crash in Russia, heading from Moscow to St Petersburg, according to Russian state-owned media TASS.

Prigozhin mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June over the treatment of his private military company which fought alongside Russia's army in Ukraine.

Initially, Putin denounced the rebellion as treason, but charges were dropped.

The plane crash has since garnered heavy speculation that it may not have been an accident. Though, there is no evidence to support.

A UK Government spokesperson said: "We are monitoring the situation closely."

In the US, President Joe Biden said: "I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised."

A UK security source quoted in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, meanwhile, suggested the plane had almost certainly been shot down by Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the FSB, acting on orders from President Putin.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee, suggested the speed at which Russian authorities confirmed Mr Prigozhin was on the plane "should tell us everything we need to know".

Writing on X/Twitter, the MP added: "For Putin there is one unforgivable sin: the betrayal of Putin and Russia.

"He hunts down those he perceives to be traitors, (including) on British shores, such as Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal.

"Now Yevgeny Prigozhin has been added to that list, ending Putin’s humiliation."

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