A viral clip has surfaced of the Russian leader allegedly attending the memorial service even though the Kremlin had announced the President would not be participating. However, the video is an old one and dates back to 2013.
ADVERTISEMENTDays after Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was quietly buried following a suspicious airplane crash, a video emerged on social media allegedly showing Vladimir Putin attending the funeral – a surprise to numerous social media users as the Russian president had announced he would not be participating.
The social media clip captures the Russian president placing flowers on a coffin before eventually refusing to get into his limousine. In the last few seconds of the video, Putin can be seen walking away alone.
"What if truly he didn't kill the Wagner boss?" asked one X user.
"Vladimir Putin pays his last respects to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Boss, and then declines to get into his limousine and walks on foot from the occasion. This guy is cold-hearted and calculative," said another person on Facebook.
One particular post got nearly 900,000 views on X, formerly known as Twitter, as of September 4th.
Prigozhin died in a plane crash on August 23rd in the Tver region near Moscow -- exactly two months after staging a brief mutiny against the Ministry of Defense and its establishment.
Vladimir Putin vowed to punish the participants of the rebellion but hours later struck a deal with Prigozhin, assuring him and his mercenaries would be given an amnesty.
The secrecy surrounding the funeral and Putin’s announced non-attendance led to speculation the Kremlin may be behind the plane crash.
But the Kremlin rejected these rumours calling them an "absolute lie."
An outdated video from 2013
To find out whether Putin was really filmed attending the memorial service, Euronews did a reverse image search and we found the viral video has nothing to do with Prigozhin's funeral.
The original video was posted on YouTube and it dates back to 2013.
It shows Vladimir Putin attending the memorial of Anatoly Rakhlin, the President’s former Judo coach.
Rakhlin, who was Putin’s Judo instructor and mentor for 15 years, died aged 75 on Aug. 7, 2013.
According to media reports, after Putin emerged from the service for Rakhlin, he told members of his security team that he wanted to be alone.
He then reportedly proceeded to walk without his usual escort of bodyguards and press.