Tag: Yevgeny Prigozhin

“Those Discussing Whether I’m Alive Or Not…”: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Video Goes Viral

The clip has sparked a huge discussion on X (formerly Twitter), where it has been shared by Anton Gerashchenko.

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s clothing matches with his appearance he made on August 21.

A new video of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin purportedly showing him in Africa days before his death has surfaced on social media. 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 the watch on his right hand. Prigozhin believed to have died along with nine other people when a Brazilian-made Embraer jet crashed north of Moscow last week.
NDTV cannot 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 on August 21, as per a Reuters report.

The Wagner boss his heard saying that the video has been filmed in Africa.

“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 says in the video.

“So for people who like to discuss wiping me out, or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else – everything’s ok,” he adds with a wave of his hand.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/those-discussing-whether-im-alive-or-not-yevgeny-prigozhins-new-video-goes-viral-4344903

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘buried privately in St Petersburg cemetery’

Other cemeteries in the Russian city had previously been mentioned in media reports as likely sites for the burial.

Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has been buried privately in a “farewell ceremony” in a St Petersburg cemetery, according to his press team.

Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash north of Moscow on 23 August, two months to the day since he led a failed mutiny against top Russian officials.

The aborted rebellion, where he had demanded the ousting of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, was the biggest challenge to President Putin’s rule since he rose to power in 1999.

A portrait of Yevgeny Prigozhin on his grave in St Petersburg. Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Flowers are seen on Prigozhin’s grave after his funeral at the Porokhovskoye cemetery. Pic: AP

Pictures from the Porokhovskoye cemetery showed Prigozhin’s dark granite tombstone surrounded by an array of flowers, mostly red roses. He is believed to have been buried next to his father.

In a statement on Telegram, the Wagner chief’s press service said: “The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich [Prigozhin] took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery.”

Other cemeteries in the Russian city had previously been mentioned in media reports as likely sites for Tuesday’s burial.

Secrecy had surrounded the funeral arrangements and the Kremlin said earlier that Mr Putin would not attend.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not give any details about the burial because it was a private family matter.

Genetic tests confirmed Prigozhin had died in last Wednesday’s crash, Russia’s investigative committee announced on Sunday.

It did not say what might have caused his private jet to plummet from the sky minutes after taking off from the capital heading to St Petersburg.

Sky News spoke to two members of the public, Kirill and Stas, who were passing by the closed cemetery and were asked who they thought killed Prigozhin.

Kirill said: “I think that there are a lot of people who are interested [in his death]. We are mere mortals, we will unlikely get to know about [who is behind it]. The rest is hype and speculation.”

Stas said: “Who am I to judge who is responsible? We are small people. I will say so, I think he’s in a better world now.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/wagner-boss-prigozhin-buried-privately-in-st-petersburg-cemetery-press-service-12950189

‘Warned Yevgeny Prigozhin Twice but Putin Didn’t Do it’: Belarus Prez Lukashenko

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, was listed as a passenger on a private jet which crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/File)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday said he warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin twice to keep an eye out for threats to his life.

Speaking to Belta, Belarus-owned news agency, Lukashenko said that the first time he warned was soon after the Wagner’s forces foiled a bid to march on Moscow to mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The first time was when I phoned him and negotiations (were taking) place while they were marching on Moscow,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko told Belta that he told Putin’s former caterer: “Yevgeny, do you understand that you will doom your people and will perish yourself?”

Prigozhin reportedly said: “I will die then, damn it!”

Lukashenko said the second time he warned Prigozhin during a meeting between him, Prigozhin and Dmitriy Utkin, a long-term lieutenant of Prigozhin.

Russian state media outlets this week showed footage of a private plane crashing into a field northwest of Moscow while en route to St. Petersburg. The plane was purportedly carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private army has been instrumental in the ongoing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/warned-yevgeny-prigozhin-twice-but-putin-didnt-do-it-belarus-prez-lukashenko-8552127.html

‘Absolute lie’: Russia denies role in Yevgeny Prigozhin plane crash

Allegations that Moscow was behind aircraft explosion presumed to have killed Wagner Group boss are untrue, Kremlin spokesman says.

Western suggestions that the Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed on the Russian government’s orders are an “absolute lie”, the Kremlin says.

It declined on Friday to definitively confirm Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash, citing the need to wait for test results.

Russian investigators have recovered 10 bodies and flight recorders from the scene of Wednesday’s crash northwest of Moscow, and investigations are under way.

Prigozhin, who conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia two months ago, hired fighters who are feared in Africa and Syria and played a crucial role in the war in Ukraine.

Some unidentified officials from the West quoted in the media have suggested the plane explosion appears to be vengeance for the Wagner mutiny in June, which posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov flatly rejected the allegations.

“Right now, of course, there are lots of speculation around this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the passengers of the plane, including Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Peskov told reporters in a conference call. “Of course in the West, those speculations are put out under a certain angle, and all of it is a complete lie.”

Prigozhin was listed among those on board the plane.

When asked whether the Kremlin has received an official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death, Peskov referenced Putin’s remarks from a day earlier. “He said that right now all the necessary forensic analyses, including genetic testing, will be carried out. Once some kind of official conclusions are ready to be released, they will be released.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin who mediated the deal that ended the mutiny, said he “can’t imagine” the Russian leader ordered Prigozhin’s assassination.

“I know Putin. He is calculating, very calm, even slow,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state media. “I cannot imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It’s too rough and unprofessional work.”

‘I’m not surprised’
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the presumed death of Prigozhin could destabilise his Wagner Group of private military contractors.

His “exceptional audacity” and “extreme brutality” permeated the organisation “and are unlikely to be matched by any successor”, it said in a statement.

The private jet crashed soon after taking off from Moscow for St Petersburg, carrying Prigozhin, six other Wagner members and a crew of three, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency.

US President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said he believed Putin was likely behind the crash. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov took offence at that remark. “It is not for the US president, in my opinion, to talk about certain tragic events of this nature,” he said on Friday.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/25/absolute-lie-kremlin-denies-role-in-yevgeny-prigozhin-plane-crash

Yevgeny Prigozhin: The convicted thief who wants to take control of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine

Despite the use of private militaries being banned in Russia, Prigozhin appears to wield significant influence over the Kremlin – but Putin could see the mercenary founder as a threat to his authority.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a convicted thief

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a convicted thief, a Russian Oligarch and the founder and boss of the Wagner mercenary group.

Despite private military companies being illegal in Russia, President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has benefited significantly by commissioning the Wagner Group to deliver success on the battlefield.

However, is Prigozhin’s growing influence now a threat to Putin’s authority?

In 1981, a 20-year-old Prigozhin was caught stealing – for the second time – and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for robbery – he served a total of nine years in detention.

After his release, Prigozhin began selling hot dogs in Leningrad, before founding, or becoming involved in, many new businesses. In the 2000s, Prigozhin grew closer with Vladimir Putin, and his companies started winning numerous lucrative government contracts.

Prigozhin is wealthy, but the war in Ukraine has provided him a unique platform for wider influence.

Russia had anticipated limited Ukrainian resistance to its illegal invasion, but in the event the Russian army was ill-prepared for the determined and motivated Ukrainian response. The Russian army struggled to hold ground, and Russian casualty rates were rocketing.

Putin turned to his old friend Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary group who – manned with newly recruited convicts – delivered battlefield success.

Prigozhin claimed his mercenary group was the “best army in the world”, but as his influence grew, so he became increasingly critical of the Russian MOD, its leadership, and indeed the Russian approach to the conflict.

Putin controls the Russian oligarchs through the lucrative contracts upon which they rely. But, Putin is understandably wary of mercenary groups that have their own agenda, are motivated by money and not patriotism, and who have the military capability to mount a coup.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/yevgeny-prigozhin-the-convicted-thief-who-wants-to-take-control-of-russias-military-campaign-in-ukraine-12908488

Exit mobile version