Russia informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet that killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday.

Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.

Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when the Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow last week. Russia's top criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, officially confirmed Prigozhin's death on Sunday.

The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin launched a rebellion against the Russian military leadership, leading his mercenaries to take over the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and then launching a march on Moscow. They downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen pilots.

Putin denounced the revolt as “treason” and vowed to punish its perpetrators but hours later struck a deal that saw Prigozhin ending the mutiny in exchange for amnesty and permission for him and his troops to move to Belarus.

What caused the plane crash

According to PTI, a preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane to go down, and Western officials have pointed to a long list of Putin's foes who have been assassinated. The Kremlin rejected Western allegations that the Russian president was behind the crash as an “absolute lie”.

After the incident, President Joe Biden said he believed Putin was behind the crash, though he acknowledged that he did not have information verifying his belief. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised," Biden was quoted by PTI as saying. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind." Prigozhin supporters also claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed.

However, in his first comments on the crash, Putin said the passengers had “made a significant contribution” to the fighting in Ukraine. “We remember this, we know, and we will not forget,” he said in a televised interview with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin.

Putin's comments on Prigozhin's death reflected that careful stand. He noted last week that Wagner leaders “made a significant contribution” to the fighting in Ukraine and described Prigozhin as a ”talented businessman" and “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life."

Private burial

A private burial was held for Yevgeny Prigozhin, six days after the unexplained private jet crash that is believed to have killed him. Earlier, Putin's spokesman said the Russian president would not attend the funeral of the mercenary chief.

Prigozhin's spokespeople said Tuesday a service took place behind closed doors and directed "those who wish to bid their farewell” to the 62-year-old head of the Wagner private military contractor to go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown. Their statement ended media speculation on where and when Prigozhin would be laid to rest, with his funeral shrouded in secrecy.

(With inputs from agencies)