On Tuesday, the 29th of August, Prigozhin’s press service announced that Wagner’s chief had been buried at a private funeral in St Petersburg, reports BBC.
Throughout the day in St. Petersburg, discussions were circulating about the burial arrangements for Yevgeny Prigozhin. There had been no official announcement regarding the timing or location of the funeral. Social media platforms had seen speculation about four different cemeteries being considered.
On Tuesday, the 29th of August, Wagner press office issued a brief Telegram statement about Prigozhin’s funeral. The message said that the ceremony in his hometown of St Petersburg was held in a “closed format”, but that anyone “wishing to say farewell may visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery”. It gave no further details.
As reported, the funeral service for Yevgeny Prigozhin attended only a few and there were no military HONOURS.
According to cemetery officials, the Russian website MSK1 reported that the funeral took place at approximately 16:00 local time on Tuesday, the 29th of August, everything was as per the wishes of Prigozhin’s relatives. He was buried next to his father’s grave, and the Wagner black-yellow-red flag was observed at the burial site.
The funeral proceedings were quiet, yet security measures were taken.
As per news outlet Fontanka, metal detectors were reportedly placed at the cemetery entrance amid concerns of a potential mass march to Prigozhin’s grave. Enhanced security was also observed, including police officers, search dogs, and personnel along the perimeter and within the cemetery.
On the same day, Valery Chekalov’s funeral, Prigozhin’s top deputy and also a passenger on the crashed plane, took place at Severnoe Cemetery.
Earlier in the day, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, had announced that the Kremlin leader would not attend Prigozhin’s funeral.
BNN already reported that Russian officials confirmed the death of the mercenary group’s leader after DNA analysis was carried out on ten bodies found in the plane that crashed on the 23rd of August.
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