Yevgeny Prigozhin says ‘principally I’m wonderful’ in newly emerged video from days earlier than his reported demise
A brand new video has emerged of former Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a automobile addressing the digital camera, seemingly days earlier than his reported demise.
Sky News understands the clip was filmed mid-August, however it’s unclear the place it was recorded.
In the brief video, posted on Wagner’s Grey Zone Telegram channel, he says: “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 that like to debate my elimination, non-public life, earnings or different issues – principally I’m wonderful.”
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He is seen carrying camouflage gear and a hat, in addition to a watch on his proper hand.
The weekend he references might be the 19 or 20 of August – three days earlier than he was reportedly killed in a plane crash north of Moscow on 23 August, two months to the day after he led a failed mutiny in opposition to high Russian officers.
The aborted revolt, throughout which he demanded the ousting of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, was the largest problem to President Putin‘s rule since he rose to energy in 1999.
Russia mentioned it confirmed his demise within the crash following genetic checks, however didn’t reveal the trigger.
He was buried privately in a “farewell ceremony” in a St Petersburg cemetery on Tuesday, in line with his press staff.
Cemetery the place Prigozhin was buried
Pictures from the Porokhovskoye cemetery confirmed Prigozhin’s darkish granite tombstone surrounded by an array of flowers, principally pink roses. He is believed to have been buried subsequent to his father.
In a press release on Telegram, the Wagner chief’s press service mentioned: “The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich [Prigozhin] took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery.”
Other cemeteries within the Russian metropolis had beforehand been talked about in media experiences as doubtless websites for Tuesday’s burial.
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Secrecy had surrounded the funeral preparations and the Kremlin mentioned earlier that Mr Putin wouldn’t attend.
The nine other people killed included two high Wagner Group figures – Prigozhin’s right-hand man Dmitry Utkin and head of logistics Valery Chekalov – in addition to 4 of his bodyguards and three crew members.
At the Severnoye cemetery in St Petersburg on Tuesday, members of Chekalov’s household have been joined by dozens of individuals, a few of whom have been believed to be Wagner mercenaries and employees from Prigozhin’s enterprise empire.