❗️Putin at a meeting with Denis Pushilin indirectly confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin:

“Prigozhin was a man of difficult fate, but a talented businessman. "Wagner" made a significant contribution to the fight against Nazism in Ukraine, we will never forget.

(...) As for this aviation accident, first of all I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of all the victims, it is always a tragedy.”

https://t.me/sotaproject/65077

Source also has video of Putin saying it.

President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the head of the self-proclaimed DPR, Denis Pushilin, expressed his condolences to the families of those killed in the crash of the business jet of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Tver region.

“As for this aviation accident, first of all, I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of all the victims. It's always a tragedy. And, indeed, if there were, and, it seems, the primary data say that employees of the PMC Wagner were also there, then I would like to note that these are people who made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. We remember this, we know and we will not forget,” Putin said.

The President added that he had known Prigozhin "for a very long time, since the beginning of the 90s." “He was a man of difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results he needed for himself, even when I asked him about it for a common cause, as in these last months,” Putin stressed.

“He was a talented person, a talented businessman, he worked not only in our country, and he worked with results, and abroad, in Africa in particular, he dealt with oil, gas, and precious stones there. As far as I know, he just returned from Africa yesterday and met with some officials here,” Putin concluded. According to him, the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin reported to him about the preliminary investigation of "this incident."

https://zona.media/chronicle/prigozhin-jet#56611

So he pretty much says that he is greatly saddened by sudden death of this great hero. Which means that he denies that he ever wanted Prigozhin's death and claims that it was an aviation accident. I'd say that it's pretty clear what Putin's narrative is from now on.

SOTA

❗️Путин на встрече с Денисом Пушилиным косвенно подтвердил смерть Евгения Пригожина: «Пригожин был человеком сложной судьбы, но талантливым бизнесменом. "Вагнер" внес весомый вклад в борьбу с нацизмом на Украине, никогда не забудем. (…) Что касается этой авиационной катастрофы, то прежде всего хочу выразить слова искреннего соболезнования семьям всех погибших, это всегда трагедия».