Military Madness > Is Prigozhin only 'Mostly Dead'? Russia's Satan II ICBM Superweapon activated

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‘Everything’s OK’: Prigozhin talks assassination attempts

 in newly released video fueling rumors he’s alive

By 

Snejana Farberov

August 31, 2023 9:55am 

 Updated

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Newly released video eerily shows Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin bragging about surviving assassination attempts — further fueling conspiracies that the Russian warlord may still be alive.

The footage was released on a Telegram channel linked to Prigozhin’s mercenary group on Wednesday — a week after he is understood to have died in a fiery plane crash.

“For those who are discussing whether I’m alive or not, how I’m doing — right now it’s the weekend, second half of August 2023, I’m in Africa,” Prigozhin, 62, says in the clip released by the Wagner-linked Grey Zone Telegram channel.

“So for people who like to discuss my liquidation or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else — everything’s OK,” he adds with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen in a chilling video released after his death, discussing risks to his life just days before his private plane crash in Russia.

via REUTERS

The footage was posted without comment, including details on exactly when or where it was filmed.

However, Prigozhin’s camouflage clothing and matching hat, along with the watch on his right wrist, matched his appearance in a video released on Aug. 21 seemingly from Africa.

That had been his first public address since President Vladimir Putin branded him a “traitor” over his short-lived June mutiny — and the last before he was declared dead in the private jet crash two days later.

The video has further fueled conspiracies about the Wagner Group leader.

via REUTERS

Prigozhin’s “weekend” reference in the latest clip suggested that it must have been shot between Aug. 19 and Aug. 20 — only days before he and other top Wagner commanders and bodyguards were killed in a plane crash in the Tver region on Aug. 23.

The Grey Zone channel earlier released what it described as some of Prigozhin’s “last” photos from Africa, showing him posing with a large group of young black men.

The accompanying post stated that the images were taken in the Central African Republic “not long before his departure for Russia.”

Prigozhin’s camouflage clothing, hat, and watch matched his attire in a video published just days before the plane wreck.

via REUTERS

A photo released by The Grey Zone Telegram channel shows Prigozhin posing up with a group of black men.

Wagner group/Twitter

The video was released a week after Prigozhin died in the plane crash.

AFP via Getty Images

While the Grey Zone made no suggestion that Prigozhin is still alive, the timing of the release and the strongman’s comments about surviving “liquidation” attempts only added fuel to already widespread conspiracies that he is still alive.

Among them is Dr. Valery Solovey, a former professor at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations, repeating a widely shared conspiracy that the warlord was not on the crashed jet.

“His [body] double was flying instead of him. By the way, Vladimir Putin is perfectly aware of that,” the analyst said in a recent YouTube interview, claiming that the real Wagner chief is “alive, well and free.”

Russian officials have confirmed, citing genetic testing, that Prigozhin died in the crash.

via REUTERS

Prigozhin, 62, was laid to rest at a cemetery on the outskirts of St. Petersburg Tuesday.

REUTERS

The former academic said that Prigozhin plans to exact revenge “on the people who planned to destroy him.”

The Russian Investigative Committee probing the aviation disaster has confirmed, citing genetic testing, that Prigozhin was among the 10 people who died in the crash.

The rogue mercenary leader was laid to rest in a private ceremony at a cemetery in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

The Kremlin has rejected as an “absolute lie” the suggestion that Putin had Prigozhin killed as payback for his uprising, but has said the investigation into the crash is looking into the possibility that the plane crash was the result of “deliberate wrongdoing.”

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Russia puts nuclear-capable ‘superweapon’ Satan II missiles on combat duty

By Snejana Farberov

September 1, 2023 7:03pm  Updated

Russia announced Friday it had put its nuclear-capable Satan II intercontinental ballistic missiles on combat duty for the first time.

The missile, also known as Sarmat — and classified as a “superweapon” by Russia — was introduced in 2018 and had been scheduled to be deployed for combat duty at the end of 2022.

“The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty,” Yury Borisov, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a media appearance organized by Russia’s Knowledge Society, the state news service TASS reported.

The Sarmat — or Satan II — missile will replace the aging Soviet-era Voyevoda intercontinental ballistic missile, known by the NATO designation SS-18 Satan, which has been in Russia’s arsenal since 1988.

With an estimated range between 6,200 and 11,800 miles, Satan II has the capability to deliver a 10-ton payload containing 10 to 15 nuclear warheads at once to any location around the world.

After a successful test launch of Satan II last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted that Satan II had no competition and would make Russia’s enemies “think twice” before issuing threats.

In this image from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile blasts off during a test launch Friday from the Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia, Friday, March 30, 2018.

Russia announced Friday it had put its nuclear-capable Satan II intercontinental ballistic missiles on combat duty for the first time.  AP

Russia’s saber-rattling leader also warned the missile “is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defense.”

Asked Friday about Russia’s “superweapon,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call that he was not in a position to confirm reports that Satan II missiles had been put on combat duty.

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