MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged to be guided by facts rather than Western media statements on the issue of the crash of the plane belonging to Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

"I have not followed what they have written, said and shown on this issue, and it is very difficult for me to make any comments from here. We’ve immediately launched an investigation, a case was opened, investigators are working. I would suggest to focus on the facts, not on what the Western media say," the top Russian diplomat told the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel, according to a fragment posted by journalist Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier expressed his condolences to the families of all those who died in the plane crash and said that the investigation will be carried out in full and brought to a conclusion.

An Embraer business jet flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed on Wednesday night in Russia’s Tver Region. According to preliminary data, there were ten people on board, all of whom died. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said that businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as one of the passengers. A criminal case has been opened over the crash on the grounds of violation of safety regulations for the movement and operation of air transport.