The funeral of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group who died in a plane crash last week, took place this Tuesday in a private ceremony at a cemetery on the outskirts of his hometown, St. quotes a press release from the press services connected with the mercenary.
“The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in closed form. Those who want to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery,” reads a short publication on Telegram, accompanied by a photo of Prigozhin.
The funeral arrangements for Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash on August 23, two months after he staged a riot to defy Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule, have been kept secret.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin announced that Putin would not attend the funeral.
Two other key Wagner figures, four of Prigozhin’s bodyguards and three crew members were also killed when their private jet Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow.
More public were the funeral ceremonies for one of Prigozhin’s deputies, Valery Chekalov. Dozens of Russian mercenaries gathered at the Severnoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg for the burial of Chekalov, who was killed in the plane crash along with the head of the Wagner group.
A Russian Orthodox priest blessed Chekalov’s coffin, while relatives, friends and former colleagues and members of the Wagner group said goodbye with flowers, according to the Reuters agency present at the scene.
The private jet Embraer Legacy 600, on which Prigozhin was traveling, crashed north of Moscow, killing all ten people on board, including the heads of the Wagner group, Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, as well as a crew of three.
It is not yet known for sure what caused the plane to crash, but residents of villages near the crash site confirmed to Reuters that they heard a bang and then saw the plane fall to the ground.
The day after the accident that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin sent his condolences to the families of the dead and revealed that he had known Prigozhin since the early 1990s: “He was a man with a difficult fate and he has serious made mistakes in life.” Putin said he described him as a businessman.
However, the Kremlin called the accusation by some politicians and international commentators that Putin is responsible for Prigozhin’s death an “absolute lie”.
Source: DN
