There is newly released video purporting
to show the former
vlogger
leader Evgeny
Prigozhin, appearing
unconcerned about his safety.
Just days
before his death earlier this month.
CNN senior international correspondent
Fred Pleitgen
is covering this story for us.
Fred,
it really is quite eerie
hearing this new clip from Prigozhin
and after his death in Syria.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And quite fascinating as well
because he seems to sort of pinpoint
the time that he was talking about this
that that was in mid-August
and where he is.
He says that he's in Africa.
But as you mentioned,
he also addresses the speculation
that he might soon be killed.
I want to listen in
to what Prigozhin said in that video.
That is that of the abstruse notion
of getting you
for everyone discussing
whether I'm alive or not.
And how I'm doing.
It's currently a weekend
and the second half of August.
20, 23.
I'm in Africa.
So for those who like to speculate
about my elimination
my private life,
my work there or anything else,
everything's fine.
As a matter of fact, I
feel in everything is fine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said in that video,
obviously a couple of days later,
if indeed
that was recorded in mid-August,
not anything was fine anymore for him.
And it's quite interesting
because of course,
we know,
Alex, that
just a couple of days
before that plane came down
that there was a video indeed
released by Bognor of Yevgeny
for allegedly in Africa
and Vladimir Putin himself also said
that when the plane
was brought down,
that Yevgeny Prigozhin
was returning from Africa as well.
Kremlin coming out now
and saying that
they are now investigating,
as they put it,
the chance that the plane
was brought down deliberately.
Certainly that doesn't
come as a surprise to many people.
Another thing that also happened
today is one of the other senior
leaders of Bognor was also laid to rest.
This was Dimitri
Putin, who,
of course, was instrumental in forming
Bognor, allegedly
also gave
the organization
his name was also the military chief
of that organization as well.
One of the things that we picked up
on, which is quite interesting,
is that he was laid
to rest in a memorial cemetery
just outside of Moscow.
In a suburb called Meeting Xi.
And he did receive military honors,
of course, unlike Yevgeny Prigozhin Alex.
Of course, major questions
about what
will happen to Wagner in Africa
where Prigozhin appeared to be.
Fred Pleitgen,
thank you very much for that report.
For more on this story,
I'm joined now by Georgetown
University adjunct
professor Jill Dougherty,
who is a former CNN Moscow bureau chief.
Jill.
Thank you so much for being with us.
Listening to that Prigozhin video,
I can't help but think of that Mark
Twain quote
that reports of my death
are greatly exaggerated.
Except then just days later,
he was indeed killed on that plane.
What do you make of this posthumous tape?
Well, you
know, if
you remember that
time, there really were questions.
Where is he?
He kind of disappeared for a while.
But then he was also at the Kremlin
for a meeting with Putin.
So there was a lot of mystery.
And also, let's not forget,
with the president of the United States
and other senior officials
all over the world saying,
I'd watch what I'm eating if I were he.
So, you know, that that's not surprising.
But I think let's preface it all
by saying that
the Kremlin continues to say
they had nothing to do with his death.
But I think, you know,
look at it this way.
What Prigozhin did was unforgivable.
According to Putin.
And I think
Putin, the indications are
let him think that that actually
things were forgiven and come to
the Kremlin Have other meetings.
But in the end,
after they began to dismantle
and certainly made a lot of progress
in dismantling his empire,
then they didn't need him anymore.
That's a theory.
But of course,
they didn't need him anymore.
He was gone.
And Jill,
we have now
just seen one of the biggest drone
assaults in Russia,
presumably by Ukraine,
since this war started.
And it really is signifying
how much this conflict is moving
deeper into Russia.
Do you think that this will wake Russians
up to the reality
of what Putin's doing in Ukraine
or perhaps
cause Russians to rally around who am?
You know, I think it's
almost a little more complicated yet.
The whole thing
that the Kremlin has been doing
is saying since the beginning of this,
the invasion,
don't worry, everything's under control.
Go back to everyday life.
Nothing's happening. Everything's okay.
And so now look what Russians are faced
with right in the city of Moscow.
They have drone attacks constantly.
And this big wave that we just saw,
Prigozhin, is assassinated.
There is a secret burial of Prigozhin.
You have casualties in the war.
Inflation is skyrocketing in Russia.
And other economic problems.
So I really think at this point
it's going to be hard to avoid.
But what they will end up thinking
is another question.
They're also being a very steady diet,
fed a very steady diet of disinformation.
Jill Dougherty, thank you very much.