Is Wagner leader Prigozhin hiding out in Venezuela?!

We all love a good conspiracy theory, even if only to laugh at  it. One of the wildest ones to pop up over the past year is about Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group.

After Yevgeny Prigozhin died on August 23, 2023 at the age of 62 in a plane accident near Moscow, the theories emerged. Had he really died or did he fake his own death to escape to sunny South America?

In September 2023 The Daily Mail reported on the thesis of Russian political scientist Valery Solovey, who claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin is alive, well and has settled in the Caribbean island paradise of Margarita, Venezuela.

Photo: Pexels

Furthermore, the same analyst claims that Vladimir Putin is terminally ill and that the Russian president's public appearances are being taken over by lookalikes.

But back to Yevgeny Prigozhin: The Daily Mail also points to information from Ukrainian military intelligence that raises the possibility that he is still alive and living a better life than before, trading in his rockets and rifles for cocktails and beaches.

Photo: By Government of the Russian Federation, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

This conspiracy theory states that someone warned Yevgeny Prigiozhin that his plane would be destroyed and he chose an alternative route. "Yes, they warned him," says political scientist Solovey.

A tip that was said to have come from Vladimir Putin and his security chief Nikolai Patrushev, on the condition that Prigozhin remained hidden and vigilant in case they needed his help, according to Russian analyst Valery Solovey, quoted in the Daily Mail.

In this case, Solovey continued, Yevgeny Prigozhin would have an army of 5,000 mercenaries ready and armed to carry out his orders.

To ensure this cooperation, Valery Solovey claims that Yevgeny Prigiozhin can only dispose of a seventh of his wealth, while relatives of Vladimir Putin control the rest.

But the really interesting thing about the whole thing is that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, is said to have traded his dangerous presence in Ukraine for a quiet, open-ended vacation at a resort in Venezuela. Is it possible that he has Elvis Presley as a companion and friend in his secret golden retreat at the same resort?

The King of Rock would be 88 years old, and it would have been 46 years since he faked his death to live life out of the public eye. Undoubtedly, both of them would have a thousand stories to tell to make their twilight years entertaining. Well, both theories are hard to believe, so we'll let them stand for what they certainly are: two contemporary fables!