Producer Iosif Prigozhin, in an interview with Fontanka, said that «some moments» from a previously published audio recording of a conversation where a person with a voice similar to his own communicates with ex-senator and billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov are real.
“I understand for sure that this is a provocation. And you look how everyone seized on this story. This is being done on purpose to create a split between higher-ranking people, so to speak, and their supporters. Today the whole machine is working for destruction. I don't know how it's all done. Of course, there are some real moments in the conversation. The voice is similar to mine. But it is not clear from what and how they glued. We need to figure it out, ”said the producer.
Prigogine confirmed that he was familiar with Akhmedov and “had repeatedly spoken to him on various topics on the phone,” the last time in January. The producer insists that he «does not remember» the conversation with criticism of Vladimir Putin. He called the recording «a symbiosis of spoken phrases and those that were generated and never spoken.» In a conversation with Fontanka, Prigogine stressed several times that he respects and supports the president and has a “pro-Russian position.”
The producer considered the publication of the record a violation of his rights: “Even if some conversations could exist somewhere, they cannot be made public under any circumstances. It's like copyrighting an image or music. No one has the right to publish works without permission to distribute, without the consent of the copyright holder. And here there is a violation of all rights, including human rights.”
According to Prigozhin, now he «is in shock and does not understand how to live with this shit,» he fears the consequences of publishing an audio recording and intends to conduct its examination.
< span class="mz-publish-context-cite__text">«The country's future has been taken away.» War, Putin, and “whore” 157 times in a conversation between ex-senator Akhmedov and producer Prigozhin — full transcript