A new video has emerged of former Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a vehicle addressing the camera, seemingly days before his reported death.
Sky News understands the clip was filmed mid-August, but it is unclear where it was recorded.
In the short 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 who like to discuss my elimination, private life, income or other things – basically I’m fine.”
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He is seen wearing camouflage gear and a hat, as well as a watch on his right hand.
The weekend he references could be the 19 or 20 of August – three days before 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 against top Russian officials.
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The aborted rebellion, during which he demanded the ousting of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, was the biggest challenge to President Putin‘s rule since he rose to power in 1999.
Russia said it confirmed his death in the crash following genetic tests, but did not reveal the cause.
He was buried privately in a “farewell ceremony” in a St Petersburg cemetery on Tuesday, according to his press team.
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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.
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Secrecy had surrounded the funeral arrangements and the Kremlin said earlier that Mr Putin would not attend.
The nine other people killed included two top Wagner Group figures – Prigozhin’s right-hand man Dmitry Utkin and head of logistics Valery Chekalov – as well as four of his bodyguards and three crew members.
At the Severnoye cemetery in St Petersburg on Tuesday, members of Chekalov’s family were joined by dozens of people, some of whom were believed to be Wagner mercenaries and workers from Prigozhin’s business empire.
