2023-08-29 18:05:54
Evgueni Prigojine, killed last Wednesday in a mysterious plane crash, was buried on Tuesday during a private ceremony in Saint Petersburg, his hometown. “The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in private. Those who wish to say goodbye to him can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery,” his company, “Concord Group” wrote on Telegram.
This is the first message from Concord since Wagner’s aborted rebellion against the Russian general staff at the end of June, which had made Yevgueni Prigojine the enemy of power.
While the Russian government had given no official information on the funeral, several Russian media had announced earlier in the day that a discreet ceremony was going to take place.
Asked about Prigojine’s funeral on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information to give. “We don’t know yet when or how (the funeral will take place) so I can’t say anything,” he said, quoted by the Russian business daily Kommersant.
While some Russian media, like the RTVI channel, evoked a burial at the Serafimovski military cemetery in Saint Petersburg, in particular because of the presence of “dozens of cars” which patrolled this Tuesday morning in front of this place, the ceremony took place at the small cemetery of Porokhovskoye, located east of the city.
Photo taken at the moment in front of the Serafimovski cemetery, in Saint-Petersburg. Lots of police around and security gates installed at the entrance. According to local media, Prigojine could be buried here, discreetly, today or tomorrow. @LCI pic.twitter.com/PTyp3WqHS5
— Jerome Garro (@JeromeGarro) August 29, 2023
Dmitry Peskov had indicated earlier in the day that Vladimir Putin had “not planned” to go to the funeral. Although Prigojine is a longtime friend of the Russian president and even though he has the title of “hero of Russia” since the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmout, relations between the two men were very fresh since the rebellion of the head of Wagner. Putin had even called him a “traitor” after this spectacular mutiny which had stopped a few kilometers from Moscow.
The “Putin cook” had agreed to go into exile in Belarus in exchange for the abandonment of the charges against him and his men and had negotiated the withdrawal of his mercenaries from Ukraine. But several sources had claimed that he had returned to Russia in recent months.
The businessman from Saint Petersburg (northwest), boss of the paramilitary group Wagner, died on Wednesday in the crash of his plane, northwest of Moscow. If the Kremlin denied any involvement, the accident aroused the suspicions of Ukraine and Westerners.
On Sunday, the Russian Investigation Committee had confirmed the death of Yevgueni Prigojine following “molecular genetic expertise”, without mentioning either the thesis of the accident, or those of a bomb or a ground missile. air.
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