His spokespeople said Tuesday a service took place behind closed doors, and directed \u201cthose who wish to bid their farewell\u201d to the 62-year-old head of the Wagner private military contractor to go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown. Their statement ended media speculation on where and when Prigozhin would be laid to rest, with his funeral shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n
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Flowers are seen on the grave of Wagner Group\u2019s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after a funeral at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n A wooden cross towered over his flower-covered grave. Nearby stood a Russian tricolor and a black Wagner flag. Russian media cited unidentified sources as saying Prigozhin was laid to rest on Tuesday without any publicity, per his family\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n Members of the Russian National Guard were stationed along the fence at the cemetery, steering visitors away after it closed for the day.<\/p>\n Putin\u2019s spokesman said the president would not attend the service. The Russian leader had decried the armed rebellion in June as \u201ctreason\u201d and \u201ca stab in the back\u201d.<\/p>\n The secrecy and confusion surrounding the funeral of Prigozhin and his top lieutenants reflected a dilemma faced by the Kremlin amid swirling speculation that the crash was likely a vendetta for his June 23-24 uprising.<\/p>\n Police officer guards with an anti-drone gun at the entrance of the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n While it tried to avoid any pomp-filled ceremony for him, the Kremlin couldn\u2019t afford to denigrate Prigozhin, who reportedly received Russia\u2019s highest award for leading Wagner forces in Ukraine and was idolized by many of the country\u2019s hawks.<\/p>\n Putin\u2019s comments on Prigozhin\u2019s death reflected that careful stand. He noted last week that Wagner leaders \u201cmade a significant contribution\u201d to the fighting in Ukraine and described Prigozhin as a \u201ctalented businessman\u201d and \u201ca man of difficult fate\u201d who had \u201cmade serious mistakes in life\u201d.<\/p>\n Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted that Prigozhin has become a legendary figure for his supporters who are increasingly critical of the authorities.<\/p>\n \u201cPrigozhin\u2019s funeral raises an issue of communication between the bureaucratic Russian government system that doesn\u2019t have much political potential and politically active patriotic segment of the Russian public,\u201d Markov said.<\/p>\n Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen guard the Porokhovskoye cemetery after a memorial service for mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash last week, in St. Petersburg.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n The secretive service \u201cbecame the final stage of a special operation to eliminate him,\u201d said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything was as closed as possible, under full control of the security forces, with distracting maneuvers,\u201d she said in a commentary on her Telegram channel.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s top criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, officially confirmed Prigozhin\u2019s death on Sunday.<\/p>\n The committee didn\u2019t say what might have caused Prigozhin\u2019s business jet to plummet from the sky on August 23, minutes after taking off from Moscow for St. Petersburg. Just before the crash, Prigozhin had reportedly returned from a trip to Africa, where he sought to expand Wagner Group\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n Also on Tuesday, a funeral was held at St Petersburg\u2019s Northern Cemetery for Wagner\u2019s logistics chief Valery Chekalov, who was among the 10 people killed in the crash. Prigozhin\u2019s second-in-command, Dmitry Utkin, a retired military intelligence officer who gave the mercenary group its name based on his own nom de guerre, also was killed.<\/p>\n A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane to crash, and Western officials have pointed to a long list of Putin\u2019s foes who have been assassinated. The Kremlin rejected Western allegations the president was behind the crash as an \u201cabsolute lie.\u201d<\/p>\n Although both were from St. Petersburg, Prigozhin and Putin were not known to be particularly close.<\/p>\n Yevgeny Prigozhin, was the owner of the Wagner Group military company.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Prigozhin, an ex-convict who earned millions and his nickname \u201cPutin\u2019s chef\u201d from lucrative government catering contracts, served Kremlin political interests and helped expand Russia\u2019s clout by sending his mercenaries to Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and other countries. Wagner, one of the most capable elements of Moscow\u2019s forces, played a key role in Ukraine where it captured the Ukrainian eastern stronghold of Bakhmut in late May.<\/p>\n The crash came exactly two months after the brutal and profane mercenary boss launched a rebellion against the Russian military leadership. Prigozhin ordered his mercenaries to take over the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and then began a march on Moscow. They downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen pilots.<\/p>\n Putin had vowed to punish the participants but hours later struck a deal that saw Prigozhin ending the mutiny in exchange for amnesty and permission for him and his troops to move to Belarus.<\/p>\n The fate of Wagner, which until recently played a prominent role in Russia\u2019s military campaign in Ukraine and was involved in a number of African and Middle Eastern countries, is uncertain.<\/p>\n Putin said Wagner fighters could sign a contract with the Russian military, move to Belarus or retire from service. Several thousand went to Belarus, where they are in a camp southeast of the capital, Minsk.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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