It seems Yevgeny Prigozhin wanted to dispel rumors about his personal safety while he was in Africa, trying desperately to keep his lucrative businesses afloat, no doubt. A few days after this was made Prigozhin and the rest of the Wagner Group leadership were killed in a fiery plane crash, his Wagner forces disbanded and likely all his business interests were taken over. It's still unclear why Prigozhin would put himself at such risk. Some stunningly poor judgment and it cost him.

Source: Moscow Times

A Wagner-affiliated channel on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday published a previously unseen video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was buried two days earlier after perishing in a plane crash in northwestern Russia.

“To those who talk about my liquidation, private life and earnings or whatever else, strictly speaking, everything’s alright,” Prigozhin said in the video posted by the Grey Zone Telegram channel.

“For anyone discussing whether I’m alive or not and how I’m doing... It’s a weekend in the second half of August 2023. I’m in Africa,” he adds.

The footage could further fuel rumors that the mercenary leader may not have been killed in the Aug. 23 plane crash and that his death was "staged."

However, the independent Agentstvo outlet notes that Prigozhin was filmed in the same camouflage he was seen wearing in a previous video published by another Wagner-linked Telegram channel on Aug. 21, where he had claimed to be in Africa.

The outlet said Prigozhin’s comments in the latest video likely indicate that it was filmed sometime around Aug. 19-20.