On August 23, 2023, a video of a burning diving plane began to spread on the Internet. It is alleged that this is the business jet of the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. We decided to check if this is true.
Videos of the burning plane were published by both social network users and the media. In particular, the post of adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko on the social network X (formerly Twitter) received 2.5 million views at the time of writing this analysis (however, Gerashchenko clarified that the authenticity of the video has not been proven). And the YouTube channel “Editorial” in the release of the weekly show “Editorial News"(1.8 million views) in a story dedicated to the crash of Prigozhin’s plane, accompanied by these shots an analysis of the version about a bomb planted on board.
August 23 private jet Embraer Legacy 600 crashed in the Tver region. Among the passengers on the business jet were the founder of the Wagner PMC, Evgeny Prigozhin, and the immediate head of the mercenaries, Dmitry Utkin. Later, an examination confirmed that they were the ones on board. Telegram channels associated with Prigozhin reportedthat the plane was shot down by a missile, the official investigation authorities are considering several versions, including technical problems and an explosion on board.
Several videos of the plane crash appeared on social networks. One of them, published on August 23, clearly shows how the Embraer dives, with white smoke trailing behind it (the video contains obscene language).
In another video, filmed from a different point, the picture is exactly the same: the plane goes vertically down, white smoke is visible, there is no open burning (the video contains obscene language).
The video with which the Editorial Office illustrates the analysis of the version of the explosion on board differs from the two previous ones: in it, the plane is burning right in the air. In fact, it has nothing to do with the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600 in the Tver region - these shots were published June 24, 2023, during the armed mutiny, raised by the same Yevgeny Prigozhin and mercenaries from the Wagner PMC.
A burning plane crashed in the Voronezh region - it was shot down by the Wagnerites. Later it turned out that it was flying command post Il-22. It is he who is burning in the published recording; the type of aircraft and its registration number were determined later from the wreckage.
Thus, the video of a plane burning in the air has nothing to do with the business jet of Yevgeny Prigozhin; these shots appeared two months before the death of the founder of the Wagner PMC.
Cover photo: screenshot “Verified” / social networks
- Is it true that an advertisement for a contract service with a portrait of Prigozhin appeared in Poland?
- Is it true that Navalny supported SVO and encouraged people to join the ranks of the Wagner PMC volunteers?
- Is it true that Yevgeny Prigozhin asked the leadership of Moscow State University and MGIMO to admit former prisoners without exams?
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