The circumstances surrounding the death of Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin have attracted plenty of conspiracy and speculation, none of which has attracted any credible evidence.
The former Kremlin chef and paramilitary leader was killed in a plane crash in August 2023. Since then, some have tried to claim he didn’t die, with content circulating social media sites as proof of his unproven reemergence.
This week, a photo, said by some to be of the late Wagner chief, went viral, showing a man with a resemblance to Prigozhin aboard a train.
SERGEI ILNITSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The Claim
Multiple posts on X, formerly Twitter, on March 14, 2024, included a photo, allegedly taken recently, claimed to be of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A post by Mario Nawfal, viewed 385,900 times, said: “🇷🇺PRIGOZHIN SPOTTED ON A TRAIN? Did the leader of the Wagner group who staged a failed uprising against Putin survive, or is it a lookalike? Source:@MediasetS1″
Another post by user @MediasetS1, viewed 614,300 times, said: “A photo from a train is going viral on social networks, where such an interesting person was spotted 👀”
The Facts
This new photo is no more credible than any of the other content that has tried to support conspiracy theories about Prigozhin
While Newsweek has been unable to find the original source of the picture, it began being posted on Russian Telegram channels and other social media around 7 pm on March 13.
While the photo appears to have been treated with circumspect by some, others have advanced more seriously-minded arguments about its authenticity.
One user on X, @LXSummer1, wrote “Today eyewitnesses noticed a man on the train who looked exactly like the allegedly deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin! There is a similarity not only in appearance, but also in the clothes that PMC leader Wagner previously wore, local media reported.”
However, while the man in the photo bears a resemblance to the late Wagner commander, there’s a tell-tale difference in the picture that shows it isn’t him.
Prigozhin’s ears are distinctly different from the person in the photo. Prigozhin’s lobes were bisected and slightly raised from the surrounding cartilage of his outer ear. This distinctive feature is visible in media photography and news reports about him. The man in the picture does not match.
Prigozhin’s antihelix, referring to the raised, thick ridge of cartilage that sits within the visible part of the ear is also a completely different shape, as can be seen in photos released by Russian state media.
Furthermore, if we were to believe that Prigozhin was still alive, of which there is no credible evidence, it also makes little sense why he, having led an uprising against Kremlin leadership in June 2023, would risk exposing his whereabouts by traveling on public transport.
In any case, we can say with near certainty that the man photographed on the train is not Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Last week, a list of Russian troops recently killed in the Zaporizhia region in Ukraine, circulated on social media, included the name “Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin.”
As Newsweek discovered it referred to a soldier who had his name changed from “Ruslan Yunusov” to Prigozhin “several years ago”, according to family testimony.
The Ruling
False.
The photo of the man on the train is not Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Leaving aside the logic, photos of the late Wagner leader show that the patterning of cartilage and the shape of his ear was significantly different from that of the man whose picture was shared on social media.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.