By Ayo Yusuf
The internet has been heating up over claims in a new video that Wagner mercenary group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin is alive and well.
Mr. Prigozhin was among 10 people believed to have died when a Brazilian-made Embraer jet crashed north of Moscow last week.
Authorities said his name was on the flight’s manifest and he was buried in a private ceremony after DNA tests reportedly confirmed that his body was among those found in the wreckage of the plane.
However, immediately after the announcement of his death, reports began to filter in that the controversial Wagner boss wasn’t in the ill fated plane after all.
A Russian political analyst, Dr Valery Solovey was first to claim that Mr. Prigozhin was using a body double and that was the person in the crash not the infamous mercenary leader who led a rebel group into Russia recently in a presumed coup attempt.
Mr. Solovey said, Prigozhin was “alive, well, and free” in an unnamed country, even as Russia was staging his funeral which Vladimir Putin refused to attend.
“Prigozhin himself was not on board. His double was flying instead of him. By the way, Vladimir Putin is perfectly aware of that. If you believe official statements of the Russian authorities, then what can I say…?”said Dr Solovey at the time.
Now Prigozhin has been seen in a new video “dismissing reports of his elimination”.
According to several media reports on Thursday, the warlord insisted that
“Everything is fine” in the video filmed in Africa during “the second half of August.”
In the short clip, released by a Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group, Prigozhin is heard talking about his well-being and possible threats to his security. He is seen dressed in camouflage clothing and hat, as well as a watch on his right hand.
No one could as yet verify the location or the date of the video, which was filmed in a moving vehicle. However, his clothing matches with an appearance he made in a video released earlier.
He was buried in Porokhovskoye Kladbishche, St Petersburg this week Tuesday.
In the short video, posted on Wagner’s Grey Zone Telegram channel, he said, “For those talking about whether I’m alive or not, how I’m doing, now it’s the weekend, the second half of August 2023, I’m in Africa.
“For those who like to discuss my elimination, private life, income or other things – basically I’m fine.”
The clip has sparked a huge discussion on X (formerly Twitter), where it has been shared by Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine.
The news about Prigozhin’s death came two months after he staged a mutiny- though short-lived. He was laid to rest in a secret ceremony in his native Saint Petersburg.
The Kremlin rejected as an “absolute lie” the suggestion that President Vladimir Putin had Prigozhin killed in revenge, but said the investigation into the crash is examining the possibility of foul play.
Western analysts believe the true cause may never be known because of Russia’s opaque and often politicized investigations system.
The U.S. intelligence community is examining the possibility that an explosion brought down the plane, with many among Russia’s elite convinced that Prigozhin’s death was an assassination ordered by the Kremlin.
On Tuesday, Prigozhin’s deputy, Dmitry Utkin, 53, whose call-sign “Wagner” gave the private army its name, was buried in Mytishchi, on the outskirts of the capital, in a ceremony cordoned off by Russian military police .
After the cemetery was opened several hours later, a Reuters journalist saw an engraved black headstone, a wooden Russian Orthodox cross and at least half a dozen large formal wreaths surrounding the grave.
Some, in red, yellow and black, bore Wagner’s official logo, while a flag placed nearby bore a leering death’s head symbol that its fighters have also used.
A report said police and members of the Rosgvardia national guard had gone to pay their respects, along with a busload of members of the far-right Rusich militia affiliated with Wagner.
