Prigozhin's fake passports found during search in St. Petersburg
Fake passports with Yevgeny Prigozhin's photos have been found during a search of the Trezzini hotel in St. Petersburg, which is considered to be the Office of Prigozhin, the financier of the Wagner PMC.
Source: Meduza with reference to Fontanka and journalist Sergey Nemalevich
Two more "fake" Prigozhin's passports were found during the search, with a fascinating story behind the name in the one of them which I'm going to tell you soon. pic.twitter.com/PmYNqopscQ
Advertisement:— Mark Krutov (@kromark) June 24, 2023
Details: As it turned out, Prigozhin "stole" the identity of a real person and, under the name of Dmitry Geiler, was treated in a clinic linked to the daughter of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
On 24 June, the St. Petersburg newspaper Fontanka published and then deleted information that during the search, several passports were found. Many of these had a photo of Prigozhin in them with different names, such as Dmitry Geiler, Oleg Semenov and Dmitry Bobrov.
A passport owned by "Dmitry Geiler" with a photo of Prigozhin attracted the attention of Sergei Nemalevich, a journalist for the Russian service of Radio Liberty. He wrote that in autumn 2021, the editorial office of Radio Liberty received a list of VIP clients of the St. Petersburg clinic called Sogaz, which has ties with Putin's eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova. Among others, the clinic hosted Valentina Matvienko, chairman of Russia's Federation Council, businessman Sergey Fursenko, and Svetlana Krivonogikh, the likely mother of Putin's illegitimate daughter Luisa Rozova.
What's interesting is that in this case Prigozhin obviously tried to find a man who will at least in some aspects resemble him vaguely. pic.twitter.com/30Cjdwu1PE
— Mark Krutov (@kromark) June 24, 2023
A certain Dmitry Isaakovich Geiler also appeared on the list, but Radio Liberty journalists could not confirm his identity at the time of the investigation. The only mention of Dmitry Geiler journalists found on the site was that a person with the same name and date of birth was looking for a job as a driver. They also managed to find a photo of Dmitry Geiler standing next to a car.
At the same time, in the Sogaz customer base, Geiler's name was marked as "Super VIP", and the client's card number indicated that he was a long-time clinic visitor. Then, journalists suggested that someone was being treated under their driver's name.
But now it became clear that the patient at the Sogaz clinic who used Geiler's identity was Yevgeny Prigozhin. In addition, fighters of the Wagner PMC were also treated at the same clinic. As Radio Liberty wrote, their stay in Sogaz was strictly classified.
Background: On 24 June, Russian security forces found a Gazelle van with boxes with cash inside near Prigozhin's office in St Petersburg, with the media reporting that the overall sum was US$11.9 million. Prigozhin said that not only the Gazelle was found but also two buses packed with money.
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