Rock musician Sergey Shnurov denies authenticity of photo showing him with oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin in Luhansk region

The Russian-backed occupation authorities in Stakhanov, Ukraine, reported on Friday that Leningrad band leader Sergey Shnurov and Kremlin-linked oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin had paid a visit to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic. The report cited an Instagram post by Russian actor Georgiy Bolonev, which features a picture of Shnurov, Prigozhin, and Bolonev in Irmino, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the front lines.

Shnurov denied the reports in a comment on the Instagram post, claiming that the photo was altered and that he doesn’t know Bolonev.

Evgeny Prigozhin is the financial backer of the Wagner private military company (PMC), a mercenary group whose members have fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. In mid-July, Meduza published an in-depth report about Russia mobilizing mercenaries to fight in the war. Meduza’s journalists found that the success of the Wagner PMC in Ukraine helped put Prigozhin back in Vladimir Putin's good graces.