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Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary chief who died in a aircraft crash final week, has been buried in a non-public ceremony in St. Petersburg, his press service stated on Tuesday, ending days of hypothesis over how he can be laid to relaxation.
The announcement on the Telegram messaging app got here as a shock. Hours earlier, the Kremlin stated it had no details about Mr. Prigozhin’s funeral besides that President Vladimir V. Putin wouldn’t attend.
Mr. Prigozhin’s funeral “happened in a non-public format,” his press service stated. “These wishing to say goodbye can go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery” in St. Petersburg.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Porokhovskoye cemetery was being closely guarded by Russian police, riot police, and nationwide guardsmen, who didn’t enable individuals to enter, suggesting the lengths the state has gone to to maintain the general public mourning for Mr. Prigozhin at a minimal.
Particulars about Mr. Prigozhin’s funeral, together with the date and whether or not members of the general public can be allowed to attend, had been unclear for days. Rumors had swirled about ceremonies at different cemeteries, although Porokhovskoye had not been talked about, and police had cordoned off a few of them and arrange metallic detectors on the Serafimovsky Cemetery, the place Mr. Putin’s dad and mom are buried.
The secrecy mirrored the sensitivities surrounding Mr. Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Mr. Putin who launched a failed mutiny in opposition to Moscow’s navy management in June. He was killed together with 9 others, together with high leaders of his Wagner non-public navy firm, within the crash of a non-public jet northwest of Moscow final Wednesday.
Mr. Prigozhin had acquired the Hero of Russia designation, one of many Russian navy’s high honors, which typically accords particular burials, together with an honor guard and a navy band.
The confusion was in keeping with the murky particulars in regards to the crash. Its trigger stays unclear, however U.S. and Western officers consider it was prompted by an explosion on board. Many Western officers have stated they assume it’s possible that Mr. Putin could have performed a job in having Mr. Prigozhin killed as retribution for the mercenary chief’s short-lived mutiny in June.
After the crash, Russian authorities launched the aircraft’s flight manifest, exhibiting the names of the ten individuals who had been alleged to be on board, and stated that every one aboard had been killed. That left room for days of hypothesis about whether or not Mr. Prigozhin was actually on the aircraft.
The deaths weren’t formally confirmed till Sunday, when Russian investigators stated that genetic testing confirmed that the victims of the crash matched the names on the manifest.
Wagner’s logistics chief, Valery Chekalov, who was additionally on the aircraft, was buried Tuesday morning in Northern Cemetery in St. Petersburg, in a ceremony that was not publicized prematurely. A number of hundred individuals got here to pay their respects.
Some analysts speculated that the Russian authorities had been looking for to keep away from a public outpouring of help for Mr. Prigozhin and his high lieutenants.
“It appears that evidently the authorities, as anticipated, need to keep away from a spontaneous rally in reminiscence of the highest management of Wagner and to take action, have imposed a fog across the burial place,” Farida Rustamova, an impartial journalist, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Valeriya Safronova, Nanna Heitmann and Jesus Jiménez contributed reporting.
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