Fri. Nov 22nd, 2024
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Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was buried during a low-key ceremony in his home city of St. Petersburg six days after he died in a plane crash, the dead warlord’s press service said Tuesday.

The funeral was held “in a closed format,” according to a post on the Telegram channel of Prigozhin’s company Concord. The mercenary-turned-mutineer was buried in the Porokhovskoye cemetery, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russian President Vladimir Putin — who Prigozhin rose up against in June — would not attend the funeral.

According to some Russian outlets, around 20 to 30 people attended the ceremony, which lasted about 40 minutes. Sources told Russian state-run news outlet TASS that holding a private ceremony with only friends and family was what Prigozhin’s relatives wanted.

Pictures circulating on social media and taken by news agency Reuters show what is reportedly Prigozhin’s grave, next to his father’s.

Earlier today, the funeral for Prigozhin confidant Valery Chekalov, who also died in the plane crash that killed the Wagner chief, was held at a different cemetery in St. Petersburg. That ceremony was attended by Chekalov’s family and some Wagner mercenaries and employees from Prigozhin’s business empire.

Prigozhin led Russia’s Wagner Group of fighters, including on the front line in Ukraine, before he launched an aborted uprising against the Kremlin in June. He died in a fiery plane crash last week two months to the day after the insurrection started.

The Kremlin has rejected accusations that Putin ordered Prigozhin’s death in revenge for the mutiny.

This story has been updated.

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