Boris Johnson alleges Putin 'must have killed' Wagner boss Prigozhin

Alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin "must have killed" Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that there can be no peace negotiation with Putin on Ukraine, CNN reported.

Johnson wrote in an op-ed, speculating about Prigozhin's last moments, a few days after a plane carrying the Wagner boss crashed in a field northwest of Moscow.

The reason behind the plane crash remains uncertain, but the US and Western intelligence officials told CNN that it was deliberate.

"It can't have been more than a few seconds between the explosion aboard the otherwise reliable Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, and the moment the Russian thug blacked out in his vertiginous acceleration to earth; and yet in that instant I am certain that he knew with perfect clarity what had happened," Johnson wrote, according to CNN.

"He knew whose hidden hand was sending him 28,000 ft down, to be immolated with the rest of his Wagner group companions in a fireball in the countryside of the Tver region north of Moscow - and then on downwards, of course, for the shade of Prigozhin: down, down to Hades and the Tartarean pit below."

The former UK PM went on to say that the man allegedly "behind the killing of Prigozhin" was "the very same man who authorised, for instance, the poisonings in the UK of Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal."

"As the detonation sucked the air out of the aircraft's cabin, I would wager that the last thought in the doomed dome of Prigozhin's skull was 'Putin!', preceded by one of the many profanities in which the former jailbird and hotdog salesman was so fluent," Johnson wrote, as reported by CNN.

Prigozhin is believed to have died in a plane crash exactly two months after he instigated a brief uprising in Russia.

Whether the Wagner group can continue to exist without Prigozhin has been questioned by experts.

The death of Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash has been confirmed by Russia's Investigative Committee on Sunday.

In his first remarks on Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in a plane crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called him a "talented businessman" who made "some mistakes," Al Jazeera reported.

Johnson referred to Prigozhin's belief that Putin would pardon him for opposing his government as the "height of conceit" in his opinion piece.

"As we watch the chilling footage of that plane spiraling to earth, we are witnessing something historic. This is the violent liquidation - on TV - of his enemies by an existing head of state. I cannot think of another example of such ostentatious and uninhibited savagery by a world leader - not in our lifetimes," Johnson wrote.

"The mask is now fully off. Putin stands exposed as a gangster, and his absurd televised 'tribute' to the dead Wagnerites is straight from the pages of 'The Godfather,'" Johnson concluded, CNN reported.