Don’t write anything about me.” A man who answered to the name of a lieutenant general reported buried in Moscow picked up the phone listed for him

“Don’t write anything about me.” A man who answered to the name of a lieutenant general reported buried in Moscow picked up the phone listed for him

Lieutenant General Igor Erusalimov, whose funeral was reported by the media the day before, may be alive: Vyorstka reached the phone number belonging to the military officer and spoke with its owner.

At the start of the conversation, a Vyorstka reporter addressed “Erusalimov” by his first name and patronymic. He replied, “I’m listening.” For security reasons, Vyorstka is publishing part of the recording without the reporter’s questions; here is the full text transcript of the conversation (click the quote to view it in full):

Reports have appeared saying that you allegedly died and that the funeral has taken place. We wanted to make sure you’re all right.

Who are you?

The outlet Vyorstka.

Vyorstka? What kind of outlet is that?

An independent outlet.

Well, whose outlet is it? Russian?

Yes, we write about Russia.

You write about Russia, but your phone number doesn’t look very Russian.

I’m on a work trip right now. It’s a Kazakhstan number.

Don’t write anything about me. Who gave you my number?

We got it from colleagues.

Which colleagues?

Unfortunately, we do not disclose that information.

You don’t disclose it? Well, say hi to your colleagues.

In addition, Vyorstka found signs that the report about Erusalimov’s funeral may have been falsified. The Telegram account from which the message was posted displayed the name of Erusalimov’s daughter, the username matched the one listed on her TikTok account, and the profile also contained three of her photos.

At the same time, the Telegram account itself appears to have been created only very recently: leaked databases contain no information about what number it is linked to. And the account’s only recorded change is dated August 5.

Vyorstka also found another account belonging to the lieutenant general’s daughter, linked to her phone number. On that account, only emojis are shown instead of a name, and there are no photos. The account itself has been active since at least 2021, and users in chats refer to its owner by the name of Erusalimov’s daughter.

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