The White House on August 29 came close to declaring that the Kremlin was responsible for the death of Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was believed to have been killed in a mysterious plane crash last week. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated, ‘We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents. It’s very clear what happened here.’ This statement was the closest U.S. statement yet on the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the killing of Prigozhin, who had launched a brief mutiny against the Kremlin in June. Prigozhin was killed last week when the plane he was flying in abruptly crashed outside of Moscow. Theories suggest an explosion on board or a surface-to-air missile strike. U.S. President Joe Biden stated that the United States is working to determine the cause of the crash.