The death of former Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was pawed over for months, as conspiracies swirled that the Russian paramilitary commander had survived the fiery plane crash said to have taken his life.
Prigozhin's body was identified by DNA following the crash over Russian territory in late August 2023. All 10 people on the flight were confirmed dead through genetic testing, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a report days after the incident.
However, this week, it may have appeared that he had risen again, with his name in a record of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Ukrainian military blogger Igor Sushko, posted on 7 March, 2024, said: "Russia: Leaked list of 296 Russian VDV airborne troops recently killed in the direction of Robotyne, Zaporizhia region in Ukraine.
"Does not include those missing in action and is also otherwise incomplete. 76 Airborne Assault Division, unit 07264 based in Pskov.
"#195 on the KIA list is Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, born Jan 28, 1981, who was assigned an alias to avoid confusion."
The Facts
Without additional context, Sushko's post might not make sense at first.
A translation of entry #195, verified by Newsweek, reads: "Prigozhin Yevgeny Viktorovich. Replacement Full Name: Yunusov Ruslan Fetikhovich."
It also says the man's birthday is January 28, 1981. The real Prigozhin was born in June 1961.
This other soldier, among a list of personnel said to have been killed in the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, has also been listed by other news reports as Yunusov Ruslan Fetikhovich.
According to a translation of a post on Telegram by independent Russian media channel Agentstvo, Fetikhovich was referred to as "one of Prigozhin's doubles," adding that he became Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin "several years ago." His second name was reportedly confirmed by Fetikhovich's brother's wife to Agentstvo.
In August 2023, the BBC's Russian Service reported that "Ruslan Yunusov" had renamed himself Yevgeny Prigozhin, although whether he was a body double for the late Wagner leader is unclear.
After his death, multiple documents were allegedly found at Yevgeny Prigozhin's mansion, including several passports with different names. Similar documents were said to have been found during other raids at Prigozhin properties before he died.
Whatever the truth was behind whether the late Wagner commander had a series of career doppelgangers, the evidence appears to show that the Prigozhin name shared online this week was someone else, not the Russian paramilitary leader killed last year.
The Ruling
Needs Context.
The man on the list is not thought to be the late Wagner leader, who died in August 2023.
As reported by independent media outlets, the person on the list is Yunusov Ruslan Fetikhovich, who was thought to have copied Prigozhin's name several years ago. It's not clear why he changed the name or whether he was a Prigozhin double.
However, he is not the original Prigozhin, who was born more than 20 years before Fetikhovich, as papers shared online show.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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