Press service Wagner: Prigozhin buried in Saint Petersburg

[pieter]

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today, 17:41

Press service Wagner: Prigozhin buried in Saint Petersburg




Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary army, is buried today in St. Petersburg. Wagner's press service reports this, which says that it was a private ceremony. Supporters of Prigozhin are welcome to say goodbye to him at the Porochovskoye cemetery, Wagner reports on Telegram.

"Fortunately, paparazzi could not approach the bereaved, and they could not ask the grieving people stupid questions," the short statement read.

Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in Russia last week, along with other Wagner leaders, possibly as a result of an attack. Prigozhin had long been a close confidant of President Putin, and his mercenaries played a major role in the bloody capture of the Ukrainian town of Bachmut. That was the last military success on the Russian side.

Putin absent

Earlier this year, Prigozhin came into conflict with the Russian army command. Two months ago he and his men rebelled and wanted to march on Moscow. The march on the capital was eventually canceled and Prigozhin was not punished for it.

After the crash last week, Putin called him "a man with a difficult fate, who made big mistakes." The president was not present at the funeral. Putin was not invited, his spokesman said.

Earlier today, Valeri Chekalov, Wagner's logistics manager, who was on the same plane, was buried in the same city. In the presence of dozens of friends and relatives, he was interred by an Orthodox priest. The atmosphere was tense: attendees ordered a photographer and cameraman from the Reuters news agency to stop documenting the ceremony.

[pieter]

Prigozhin buried in private funeral - Wagner chief's press service

Published 12 minutes ago

By Jaroslav Lukiv
BBC News

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been buried in a private funeral in St Petersburg, his press service has said.

It said the ceremony, in his home city, was held in "a closed format", and all those "wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery".

The mercenary chief was confirmed dead by Russian officials after genetic analysis of 10 bodies found in a crashed plane on 23 August near Moscow.

The Kremlin has denied speculation it was to blame for the crash.

But a number of Russia watchers - both in the country and abroad - have described Prigozhin, 62, as a "dead man walking" since an aborted armed mutiny he led back in June.

All 10 people on board - including Prigozhin's right-hand man Dmitry Utkin - died in the crash in the Tver region, north-west of Moscow.

The Wagner press service gave the information about Prigozhin's funeral in a short statement on Telegram on Tuesday.

It provided no further details.

The funeral was low-key, but security wasn't



In life Yevgeny Prigozhin had been a man of mystery. Often concealing his identity, with the help of wigs and fake beards.

Clearly the mystery didn't end with his death.

All day St Petersburg had been buzzing with rumours and speculation about where the mercenary chief would be laid to rest. There was no advance warning. No official announcement of when and where it would happen. On social media at least four different cemeteries were being talked about as possibilities.

In the end, it was none of them.

Eventually Mr Prigozhin's representatives revealed that the head of Wagner had been buried in Porokhovskoe Cemetery on the edge of St Petersburg beside his late father.

No military honours for the mercenary chief. And reportedly only a few people attended.

Outside the cemetery we're told that it is officially closed for the day, so we can't go in. And just to make sure that the media gathered outside doesn't try to get in, the place is pretty much in lockdown.

There are long lines of police along the perimeter fence and throughout the cemetery. I can see sniffer dogs, anti-drone officers and riot police.

The funeral may have been low-key. The security; far from it.

You can understand why.

The Wagner mutiny, that Mr Priogozhin organised, was viewed as treachery by the Kremlin. As far as the Russian authorities are concerned, the less attention the better.

----------------------

Russia's MSK1 website quoted cemetery officials as saying the funeral was held at about 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

"That's what [Prigozhin's] relatives wished," the officials said.

MSK1 also said Prigozhin was buried next to his father's grave. It added that Wagner's black-yellow-red flag could be seen at the site.

St Petersburg's Fontanka news outlet reported that metal detectors had been installed at the entrance, as the authorities were believed to be preparing for a mass pilgrimage to Prigozhin's grave.

ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/4FBD/production/_130931402_0418cb1b3ab8d62bef53a9095abb41d0ef3d9d91-1.jpg.webp
Yevgeny Prigozhin was buried next to his father, reports say

Separately, the funeral of Prigozhin's top deputy Valery Chekalov - who was also on the crashed plane - was also held on Tuesday on St Petersburg's Severnoye cemetery. The 47-year-old is is believed to have have been running Prigozhin's non-military business interests, which Western governments say are used to finance the mercenary group.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin leader would not be attending Prigozhin's funeral, although Prigozhin's fighters played a key part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Mr Putin in February 2022.


The plane went down in the Tver region, north-west of Moscow

Mr Putin stayed silent for nearly 24 hours after the crash. The following day he sent his condolences to the families of all the victims.

And he described Prigozhin as a "talented person" who "made serious mistakes in life".

In June, Prigozhin - once a Putin loyalist - led the rebellion against the top two generals of the Russian armed forces.

His mercenaries took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and were marching on Moscow - only halting the mutiny about 200km (125 miles) from the capital.

Mr Putin at the time described the rebellion as "treachery" and a "stab in the back", but a deal was later struck for Wagner fighters either to join Russian regular army units or move to Belarus, a Russian ally.

However, there has been frenzied speculation that Russian security forces were somehow involved in the plane crash.

US officials quoted by CBS, the BBC's media partner in America, have said that the most likely cause of the crash was an explosion on board the private jet.

Mr Peskov dismissed rumours of foul play as an "absolute lie".

[pieter]

[






Private funeral held for Prigozhin, according to a company he owned

3 hr 7 min ago

From CNN's Darya Tarasova, Anna Chernova and Katharina Krebs




Prigozhin is seen in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24. Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters



Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin's funeral took place "in a closed format," according to Concord Management, the company Prigozhin owned.

The company did not specify when the funeral took place.

"Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery" in St. Petersburg, Concord's press service added.

According to Russian media outlet MSK1, Prigozhin was buried at the cemetery at about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday.

“That’s what the relatives wished,” the cemetery said in response to MSK1’s question about why the place of burial was not previously reported.

Independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that about 30 people attended the funeral. CNN cannot verify the report.

Agentstvo reported there were "no people in military uniform at the ceremony," according to an employee of the cemetery.

It quoted the employee as saying:

“There were 20 to 30 people. Only relatives, I know them. The ceremony went on for 40 minutes. All were in civilian clothes."
"I did not see the military. I've been in the industry for over 30 years, nothing out of the ordinary for me, just a VIP funeral. They are not the first and, most likely, not the last,” the employee said.

Video and images show that Prigozhin appears to have been buried next to his father. Images analyzed by CNN show a headstone next to Prigozhin's burial site that reads: "Viktor Evgenievich Prigozhin 1935-1970." It was already known that his father died when Prigozhin was still a boy.

The cemetery is an old, small one that is partially closed on the northeast outskirts of the city.

More background: Prigozhin was confirmed dead by Russian investigators Sunday. He was among the 10 people killed when their plane crashed last week.

The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin — who was once called President Vladimir Putin's "personal chef" — led an armed insurrection against the Russian leader. Prigozhin, whose fighters secured rare victories for the Kremlin on the battlefield, had railed against the country’s military brass over their handling of the Ukraine war.

The Kremlin said decisions on Prigozhin's burial would be for his family to make and that it would be a private affair. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had ruled out Putin's attendance at Prigozhin's funeral.

On Tuesday, a funeral service for Valeriy Chekalov, who organized Wagner's logistics, was held at Severnoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, according to multiple media outlets. Earlier, a CNN team saw police guards and road closures near another of the city's graveyards — the Serafimovskoye cemetery — amid speculation Prigozhin's burial might take place there.

[karl]

Pieter

very good coverage of this situation I must say. All things end in time, and it appears this extends to Mr. Prigozhin as it appears, for no one is dead until the body is identified as this indicates.

Please do not as above appears myself as indifferent to the death of this man, for this would be far from truth, for myself do not ever revel in the death of another person. Mr. Prigozhin died the manner he lived, violent as this incident has shown.

Karl