Is Yevgeny Prigozhin alive? A mysterious new video has been released that eerily shows the assassinated Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin commenting on his "elimination" in the days before he was allegedly killed. In the video, Prigozhin can be heard bragging about surviving assassination attempts — further fueling conspiracies that the Wagner chief may still be alive.
There are several conspiracy theories that suggest Prigozhin may have cheated death by placing a body double on his tragic business jet that crashed on August 23 in Russia. Many in the West think he was murdered on Vladimir Putin's orders in retaliation for the June coup he led against the dictator's government.
Prigozhin Brags About Cheating Death
On Wednesday, a week after Prigozhin is believed to have died in a catastrophic plane crash, the clip was posted on a Telegram account linked to his mercenary group.
"For those who are discussing whether I'm alive or not, how I'm doing — right now it's the weekend, second half of August 2023, I'm in Africa," Prigozhin, 62, says in the clip released by the Wagner-linked Grey Zone Telegram channel.
"So for people who like to discuss my liquidation or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else — everything's OK," he adds as he waves his hand to the camera.
The footage was posted but did not carry a comment, including details on exactly when or where it was filmed.
However, a previous post by the channel showing his grave had the following caption: "He once said that the dead speak louder than the living." He proved it"
When the video was shot is unknown, according to Grey Zone.
Even if the video is real, it cannot establish Prigozhin's survival.
He is known to have been to Africa, where Wagner has interests and military operations prior to returning to Moscow last week before the crash.
Dead Or Alive?
Given that Prigozhin mentioned the "weekend" in the most recent clip, it was likely filmed between August 19 and August 20, just days before he and other senior Wagner commanders and bodyguards died in a plane accident in the Tver region on August 23.
The Grey Zone channel earlier released what it claimed to be some of Prigozhin's "last" photographs from Africa, in which he was pictured posing alongside a sizable gathering of young black guys.
The photos were shot in the Central African Republic, according to the post that accompanied them, "not long before his departure for Russia."
The date of the release and the strongman's comments about surviving "liquidation" attempts only fueled already popular rumors that Prigozhin is still alive, even though the Grey Zone provided no indication that he is.
A popular conspiracy theory that the warlord was not on the crashed flight is repeated by Dr. Valery Solovey, a former professor at the esteemed Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
"His [body] double was flying instead of him. By the way, Vladimir Putin is perfectly aware of that," the analyst said in a recent YouTube interview, claiming that the real Wagner chief is "alive, well and free."
According to the former professor, Prigozhin plans to exact vengeance "on the people who planned to destroy him."
Genetic tests used by the Russian Investigative Committee, which is looking into the aviation accident, confirmed that Prigozhin was one of the 10 people who died in the crash.
On Tuesday, the rebellious mercenary leader was buried in a private ceremony at a cemetery in St. Petersburg.
The Kremlin has dismissed as an "absolute lie" the claim that Putin ordered Prigozhin's murder in retaliation to his revolt, but it has also stated that the investigation into the crash is looking into the possibility that the plane crash was caused by "deliberate wrongdoing."
