10 September 2023 , 00:11
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Yevgeny Prigozhin survived the plane crash and is now hiding out in Venezuela, according to a Russian political analyst.
The Wagner warlord is "alive and well" on the Caribbean paradise island of Margarita, according to Dr Valery Solovey, who also claims Vladimir Putin is terminally ill and that all current appearances of the Kremlin president are by two doppelgängers controlled by the secret services. Ukrainian military intelligence this week raised the possibility that billionaire Prigozhin remained alive. The agency said it could not confirm his death.
Margarita is a Caribbean island that's part of Venezuela (Getty Images)Now Solovoy - seen by some as a conspiracy theorist - said without offering proof: “I promised to tell where [Yevgeny Prigozhin] is. He is in Venezuela… As far as I know, he is on an island called Margarita….” Solovoy claimed his sources said that Prigozhin was warned of the impending plane crash, and given a route to avoid being on board.
"Yevgeny Prigozhin was warned about his assassination…that his plane would be destroyed,” he said. “Yes, he was warned.” He claimed that a deal was hatched involving Putin and his presidential security supremo Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council. “They developed the ‘trick’ that we observed,” he said. “When Wagner’s key commanders died [in the plane crash], Yevgeny Prigozhin remained alive and well.”
Prigozhin was ordered to lie low but may be allowed to come back after Putin’s death to lead a force of 5,000 Wagner mercenary fighters that will remain armed and ready for use in the event of an impending battle between competing clans for ultimate power, according to Solovey’s fantastical version. “They agreed about cooperation in a critical situation,” he said.
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Solovey claims Prigozhin was tipped off about the plane crash (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)This means Prigozhin for now remains hidden. “Up to 5,000 mercenaries might be under Prigozhin’s control,” he said. “These fighters are supposed to be used as a death squad, to get rid of those who will try to resist [a new ruling] coalition [linked to Patrushev].” He claimed that assets of Prigozhin including diamonds, gold, and cash were being split with one-seventh retained by Prigozhin, and the rest going to “structures controlled by the family of Vladimir Putin”.
The real Putin is sickly and may not survive the autumn, according to his doctors, he alleged. Two body doubles are used for an increasing number of appearances. “Putin’s double, or, to be more precise, two doppelgängers, are controlled by the Federal Protection Service [FSO],” he said.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said this week that it could confirm the deaths of Wagner military commander Dmitry Utkin, 53, and other mercenary army figures in the Tver region Embraer Legacy 600 jet crash, but declined to do so over Prigozhin. A spokesman said: “We must operate with confirmed facts, we still need to wait. I will simply focus on the fact that we can confirm the death of Utkin and several other associates of Prigozhin.”
Telegram channel Brief said that Russia has classified all details of the air crash in which the warlord is said to have died. “According to insiders, the case of the crash of the Embraer aircraft has been classified as ‘secret’, and special control has been established over the materials of the case, so that no information can leak to the media without authorisation,” said a report.
Solovey - a former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations [MGIMO], a training academy for spies and diplomats - said Prigozhin “is enjoying life at a very good resort”. After the air crash, the warlord's remains were identified by DNA analysis, claimed the Russian authorities at the time.
A close Prigozhin associate Maxim Shugaley said he was sure Prigozhin - whose funeral was held in St Petersburg - was dead, assassinated either by elements in Russia or abroad. “I was also silent for a long time, but now I want to write about what I feel,” he said. “My thoughts may seem controversial for some….So, the first question that absolutely everyone raises is: Is he alive or not alive? The answer for me is unequivocal - [he] is no more.”