2023-08-28 21:01:00
St. Petersburg news server points out that he does not know for sure who will be buried at the Serafimovsky cemetery on Tuesday. However, according to his information, five out of ten victims of the plane crash are to be buried. On Tuesday, funerals are being prepared at three more St. Petersburg cemeteries, but they do not show such preparations, like the Serafimovsky one, pointed out Fontanka.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today that there is still no information about the funeral of the head of the Wagner family and that the decision depends mainly on his family. When asked if President Vladimir Putin would attend the last farewell, he replied: “We still don’t know when or how (the funeral will take place). Therefore, this question cannot be answered now.”
Prigozhin’s private plane crashed last week on Wednesday in the Tver region, Russian authorities on Sunday confirmed the death of the head of the Wagner family on the basis of genetic analysis. After the plane crashed, there was speculation as to whether Prigozhin was actually on board the plane. The head of the Wagner family was known for taking various security measures in an attempt to prevent an assassination attempt.
The cause of the plane crash remains unknown. On the Internet, because of Prigozhin’s disputes with Moscow, there is speculation that the plane was shot down or that a bomb exploded on board. A spokesman for the Russian president on Friday dismissed as “an absolute lie” Western suspicions that Prigozhin was killed on orders from the Kremlin.
A total of ten people were on board the crashed plane, authorities said. According to previous information, the list of passengers included Prigozhin’s right-hand man Dmitry Utkin or the head of logistics of the Wagner group Valery Chekalov. In addition to them, there were four other men on the list who apparently also belonged to the Wagnerians, the BBC wrote earlier. However, unlike Utkin or Chekalov, their names do not appear on international sanctions lists, so they are not considered high-ranking figures in the group. The remaining trio on board the plane consisted of the crew – two pilots and a flight attendant.
An explosion of anti-tank mines damaged the bridge on the border between Ukraine and Belarus today. This was reported by the Belarusian opposition group Hajun, according to which it apparently happened as a result of a lightning strike. Ukrainian sources also confirmed the event.
The incident took place near the Belarusian village of Slavečna. “The explosion damaged the bridge support and destroyed the railway tracks in both directions. There are no reports of casualties.” the Hajun group reported, citing Belarusian pro-regime channels.
The information of the daily Ukrainska Pravda was confirmed by the head of the Ukrainian border service, Andriy Demchenko, as well as unnamed sources from the military environment, according to which the border crossings with Belarus were mined by Ukrainian soldiers in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the situation from February 2022, when Russian troops used Belarusian territory for their attack on Kyiv.
“We will wait for the official results of the investigation, but it was probably a terrorist attack,” commented the moderator of the station Rossiya 1, Vladimir Solovyov, about the crash of Prigozhin’s plane. “I think it’s more likely that the explosive was hidden during repairs, since no one can check what the spare part was. That means NATO is involved,” stated without further evidence.
The statements of Pope Francis, who in a message to young Catholics in St. Petersburg spoke of a great Russian empire, did not want to support imperialist thinking. Today, the Vatican stated this after the words of the head of the Catholic Church on Friday provoked criticism, especially from Ukrainian social media users.
The Pope addressed a gathering of Russian Catholics in St. Petersburg via video transmission on Friday. A passage that drew criticism was not published by the Vatican in its report on the speech. “Don’t forget your identity. You are the heirs of the great Russia, the great Russia of saints, kings, the great Russia of Peter the Great, Catherine II, that great and educated Russian empire, many cultures, great humanity, never give up this heritage.” the Pope told the young Catholics.
Those words caused great resentment among people and believers in Ukraine. However, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni today denied that the Pope wanted to support imperialist logic or the actions of a specific politician with his statements. “The Pope wanted to encourage young people to preserve and promote what is positive in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage,” Bruni said. Today, the Kremlin described the Pope’s statements as “very gratifying” and said that Francis knows Russian history.
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