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| - Fact Check: This video DOESN'T show Wagner chief Prigozhin's plane crashing
India Today, in its investigation, found that the video has been on the internet since June 2023. Yevgeny Prigozhin is suspected to have died in a plane crash on August 23.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is at least two months old. According to reports from June, the video showed a Russian Air Force plane being shot down by Wagner Group soldiers.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group who staged a brief mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June, is suspected to have died in a plane crash on August 23. Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation agency, said Prigozhin was one of 10 people on board an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet that crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region. He was reportedly travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
In its aftermath, a video of an aircraft on fire crashing down was circulated on social media. Allegedly, this clip showed the plane crash that presumably killed the Russian mercenary chief.
“JUST IN: Wagner boss Prigozhin jet on fire before crashing,” wrote an individual while sharing the video on Twitter. The archived version of such posts can be seen here, here, and here.
India Today found that the video in question is almost two months old and it is not related to Prigozhin’s presumed death.
OUR PROBE
A reverse image search of the video's keyframes led us to the same video uploaded to the YouTube channel of the Daily Mail on June 26.
According to the description provided by the channel, the video showed a Russian Air Force AN-26 plane shot down by Wagner Group mercenaries on June 24. The video was also uploaded to the YouTube channel of The Sun on June 25 with a similar description.
Screenshots from the video were also carried in media reports in June. These reports also claimed the aircraft on fire was a Russian plane shot down by the Wagner forces.
On June 23, 2023, the Wagner Group, a private military company in Russia, initiated a rebellion following a period of rising tensions between the Russian Ministry of Defence and Prigozhin. Reportedly, during this uprising, the Wagner Group downed approximately seven Russian aircraft, resulting in the deaths of 13 airmen.
Subsequently, on June 24, 2023 the opposing sides reached an agreement to resolve the conflict. Prigozhin, who previously voiced support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the time publicly criticised Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and attributed the country's military shortcomings to them.
While we could independently verify the authenticity of the viral video, it is evident that the footage is at least two months old and thus has no connection to Prigozhin's suspected death in August.
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