Just days before Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a “mysterious” plane crash, the mercenary leader reportedly filmed a video assuring his supporters that “everything is fine.” The video was reportedly filmed in Africa where Prigozhin was fighting to keep control of his military operations after his attempted coup earlier in the summer put the Wagner Group at odds with Vladimir Putin, who had contracted the controversial private army to turn the tide in Ukraine. They did not.
“For those discussing whether or not I’m alive, how I’m doing. It’s the weekend now, the second half of August 2023. I’m in Africa,” Prigozhin said in the video. “Fans of discussing my liquidation, intimate life, earnings or anything else—actually, everything is fine.”
Prigozhin would die just a few days later in the mysterious plane crash. Although, the resurfaced video has already sparked speculation that maybe he didn’t?
Via The Daily Beast:
While the clip is likely to fuel conspiracy theories that the foul-mouthed warmonger’s death was staged—a theory circulated by the families of some Wagner mercenaries who believe the plane crash was a ruse—Prigozhin is wearing the same outfit in the new video as one he had on in a clip published on Aug. 21.
Prigozhin, who famously recruited convicted killers and rapists from Russian prisons to, as he put it, “win this damn war at any cost” for Putin, was buried at an ordinary St. Petersburg cemetery earlier this week after a strangely low-key funeral that only included about 20-30 people and no military honors.
Since Prigozhin’s death, Kremlin puppets on Russian state TV have repeatedly tried to deflect blame from Putin. Fingers have been pointed at everyone from Ukraine, America, France, and of course, NATO. Anyone but the likeliest suspect.
(Via The Daily Beast)