Many questions still surround the death of Putin's enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin

Yevgeny Prigozhin died on August 23, 2023, in a plane accident. At least that’s the official story, the truth is that there are many questions and theories surrounding his demise.

There are many who think the chief mercenary of Wagner Group and Putin’s ally-turned-opponent actually might be alive.

Before you dismiss this as a conspiracy theory, there’s actually a precedence of Prigozhin apparently returning to the world of the living.

Business Insider tells that, back in 2019, Prigozhin was thought to have died in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo, only to reappear a few days later.

More than a few have pointed out parallels to the fatal plane crash that left 10 dead, including Prigozhin and his Wagner Group right-hand, Dmitry Utkin.

The New York Post also highlights that more than a few assumed the leader of Wagner Group passed away after disappearing off the spotlight following his failed attempt to raise in arms against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Just a few days before his apparent demise, Prigozhin had appeared on a recruiting video for Wagner Group in what apparently is Africa.

Russia analyst Keir Giles, from the UK-based Chatham House, commented to The Washington Post that “until we know for certain it's the right Prigozhin, let's not be surprised if he pops up shortly in a new video from Africa”.

Prigozhin, as reported by the news website The Daily Beast, was first identified by a missing finger and later by DNA tests. Could any of these be falsified?

Political analysis website Politico and many others have also found it suspicious how fast Russia’s civil aviation authority confirmed the crash and declared Prigozhin dead.

Then there’s the mysterious second plane that according to Newsweek was owned by Prigozhin and that departed from Moscow to St. Petersburg around the same time as the ill-fated flight.

Newsweek posits a few possible theories, including Prigozhin and Utkin faking their own death to escape the constant threat dangling over their heads from the Kremlin.

Researcher Marina Miron from the Department of War Studies at King’s College of London explains yet another hypothesis: That the late leaders of the Wagner Group faked their deaths with the help of Putin to continue to serve him and Russia with different faces and identities.

“They will probably remain in the shadows forever, and we will only know the official story”, Marina Miron told Newsweek.

Of course, the most logical explanation is that Prigozhin died during the plane crash along nine other people. No mystery there.

Prigozhin had become a liability to the Russian government and, like many people that opposed Putin in the past, he had the convenient misfortune of an early, accidental death.

Accident or no accident, many circumstances around the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin will likely remain shrouded in mystery for the ages.