We knew these denials were coming and now they are here. A Kremlin spokesman called the suggestion that Putin ordered Prigozhin’s death an “absolute lie.”

The Kremlin on Friday heatedly denied blame for the presumed death of the mercenary chief Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, dismissing the idea that the Russian government had destroyed a business jet reportedly carrying Mr. Prigozhin as Western propaganda aimed at smearing President Vladimir V. Putin.

“An absolute lie,” said Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman…

“I would suggest focusing on the facts and not what is being said by the Western media,” [foreign minister Sergey] Lavrov told Russian state media…

Mr. Lukashenko, who relies heavily on political and economic support from his Russian counterpart, said, “Knowing Putin, how scrupulous, cautious, accurate he is, I do not believe that he would do this,” according to the Belarusian state news agency Belta.

Lukashenko’s denial is especially funny because back in June when he was eager to take credit for brokering peace between Prigozhin and Putin, he said outright that Putin wanted to have Prigozhin killed.

According to Lukashenko, it started with an exasperated Putin who called and informed him what was happening. “I…understood that a tough decision had been made, you could hear it beneath Putin’s speech: To wipe them out,” Lukashenko said. But he added, “I advised Putin not to rush.”

At some point he said he told Putin they could definitely kill Prigozhin but then they would have to kill everyone who was angry about him being killed and at some point they’d wind up killing civilians as well.

Here’s video of his statement about killing Prigozhin. Given that this was Putin’s first thought and that he had to be talked out of it, it’s a bit of a stretch to claim now that Putin wouldn’t go there.

Lukashenko about Prigozhin:
“That's why I thought we can certainly kill him. I even said to Putin, We can kill him. It's not a problem. Maybe not on the first try, but on the second.” 👀#Prigozhin #WagnerCoup #RussianArmy #Russia #Wagner #PrigozhinCoup #Belarus #Lukaschenko… pic.twitter.com/zz4EtCqTU5

— Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) June 27, 2023

But the best deflection came from Russia’s top TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov who literally argued that Putin wouldn’t have done this because Russia is a nation of laws.

During his show Full Contact Thursday morning, Solovyov complained about the Western media’s coverage that described the incident as “Putin’s revenge.”

“Prigozhin and Wagner did not present any threat to the Kremlin! None at all… They presented a colossal threat for the European countries! I’m trying to figure out who might have benefited from it. The very last person it would benefit is Putin!” he said. “Putin gave a word, he forgave all of them… Putin was never known not to keep his word! He is a man of his reputation… all about the laws,” he insisted.

Although he conceded that Prigozhin’s “march on Moscow” was indeed a “stab in the back” of the Russian president, the host brushed off any possibility of a revenge killing, asserting, “We’re not a gang! We are not the mafia! This is not Mario Puzo’s book The Godfather. We are a nation of laws!”

I wonder what Alexei Navalny, the opposition figure Putin ordered killed with nerve agent, thinks about that explanation. Having ruled out Putin as a possibility, Solovyov then presented a list of other people who might be to blame.

“The Anglo-Saxons are undoubtedly behind this crime!” he fumed. Solovyov went on to name France, Poland, the Baltic states, and NATO countries in general as other likely beneficiaries of the incident. “This does not benefit Russia at all!” he reiterated.

Here’s a 15-minute clip of Solovyov’s show. He goes on and on about the other people who might have put a bomb on board the plane, even saying at one point how simple that would be. It will be interesting to see what he says if and when Russia’s formal investigation into the crash concludes that there was no bomb or missile involved. In other words, Solovyov is sort of taking it for granted here that a bomb went off and the only question is who planted it. But even that may be a bit too close to the truth. He may need to walk this all back in a few weeks.