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A video of a plane crash went viral on August 23 alleging that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader was on that aircraft. Anton Gerashchenko, the former deputy minister and current official advisor at Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, shared the video on X and wrote that the footage allegedly captured the moments of the crashing of Yevgeny’s plane.
The post gained over 2.4 million views. However, a community note was added to the post stating that the video in question was from two months ago, so it certainly cannot capture a plane crash that took place on August 23 itself.
The note further added a YouTube link to the original video, which showed the Russian aircraft Ilyushin Il-22M falling from the skies after being shot down during Yevgeny’s mercenary group Wagner’s armed uprising. The falling of the aircraft was recorded on June 24.
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist for BBC Verify, also shared screenshots of the alleged 79-second video on X and clarified that the footage was miscaptioned and that the plane was not the same plane on which Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin allegedly died.
Another video of Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane crash surfaced online
While the first video shared by Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, did not record the plane crash in which Yevgeny is believed to have died, a second footage was posted by Anton on the same day, which reportedly captured the actual plane crash.
It also showed a footage of plane falling from the sky. As per several outlets including, ABC News, NBC News, The Associated Press, and CBS News, this video was shared by Grey Zone, a pro-Wagner Telegram channel, and it genuinely showed the airline crash of which Yevgeny was believed to be onboard.
As per Anton's caption of the second post, an eyewitness has reported two explosions and claimed that the sound resembled that of a missile firing in the sky before the plane went down. The eyewitness reportedly heard two booms. After the first blast, they saw the aircraft releasing smoke and the second boom indicated the explosion. The alleged witness saw the plane circling before crashing to the ground.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and his armed rebellion against Vladimir Putin
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who used to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close confidant, started an armed rebellion against him as well as his governmental military forces and made headlines earlier this year.
On August 23, a plane allegedly carrying the Wagner chief along with 9 others crashed northwest of Moscow. The plane crash is being widely deemed as an assassination of Yevgeny to avenge his uprising that challenged Putin.
According to the Emergency Services Ministry of Russia, the aircraft was carrying three crew members and seven passengers. It took off from Moscow and was on its way to St. Petersburg when the crash took place near Kuzhenkino village in the western Tver region of Russia.
Flight data showed that the private Embraer jet reached about 28,000 feet altitude before tracking details stopped transmitting from the aircraft. As per Russian state media, eight bodies have been found at the site of the crash and the plane was reported to have burnt up upon impact. Though Yevgeny Prigozhin's body has not yet been found to completely confirm his death.
