Putin absent as Wagner boss Prigozhin buried behind closed doors in St. Petersburg

Moscow, Aug 29 (EFE).- The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last week, was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony in St. Petersburg, his press service said.

Prigozhin, who led his Wagner mercenaries on a failed armed mutiny against the Russian military leadership in June, was among 10 people who died after the plane they were traveling in from Moscow to St Petersburg crashed on Wednesday night.

“The last farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place behind closed doors. Those who want to say goodbye to him can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery,” his team said in a statement posted on Telegram.

On Tuesday morning, the Kremlin had confirmed that Russian president Vladimir Putin would not attend the funeral.

“The president’s attendance is not planned,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a press conference in Moscow.

Peskov added that the Kremlin has no specific information regarding the funeral date and any other arrangements. “All decisions on the funeral are made by (Prigozhin’s) family and friends,” he said.

Russian investigators confirmed on Sunday that Prigozhin and the nine others who died in the crash – the causes of which have yet to be confirmed – had been identified after DNA analysis.

The Kremlin has strenuously denied allegations made by opposition figures and Western politicians suggesting that Putin was involved in the death of Prigozhin.

In a televised addressed following the short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military top brass in June, a visibly angry Putin had accused Prigozhin of “treason”, calling the uprising a “stab in the back of our troops and the people of Russia.” EFE

mos/ks