In Video, Prigozhin Addressed Threats to His Life

'Everything's OK,' he said in video possibly recorded in the days before his Aug. 23 death
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 1, 2023 6:01 AM CDT
Prigozhin Addressed Theories About 'Whether I'm Alive or Not'
A woman lays flowers on the grave of Wagner Group's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died last week in a plane crash two months after launching his brief rebellion, at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.   (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly addressed rumors about threats to his safety days before his business jet fell from the sky. "For those who are discussing whether I am alive or not ... everything's OK," Prigozhin says in a short video released Thursday by a Telegram channel with ties to the mercenary leader, per the BBC. It was reportedly filmed days before Aug. 23, when Prigozhin and nine others died in a plane crash near Moscow. US and British officials believe it was a deliberate killing orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in revenge for Prigozhin leading a short-lived rebellion against the country's military leadership in June, a claim Russia denies. The plane crash came two months to the day after the rebellion.

The channel that released the video, the Wagner-linked Grey Zone, claimed the Russian military shot down Prigozhin's plane, without offering evidence. The video of Prigozhin, recorded in a moving vehicle, is thought to have been recorded in mid-August, possibly Aug. 19 or 20. "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 translated remarks, per the BBC. "So for people who like to discuss wiping me out, or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else, everything's OK." Prigozhin is shown wearing a camouflage top and hat, which matches what he is wearing in a video released Aug. 21, which Prigozhin claimed was also filmed in Africa, per CNN. (Prigozhin was buried on Tuesday.)

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