Crosses and wreaths in the mud
Cemetery of the Wagner mercenaries demolished – will it be razed to the ground?
Graves of Wagner fighters in St. Petersburg. All over Russia new burial sites for soldiers and mercenaries were created during the 18 months of the war.
© Celestino Arce Lavin / Imago Images
A Wagner troupe cemetery in the Samara region is causing a stir. The graves of the mercenaries have been demolished. While the crosses and wreaths lie in the mud along the way, there is speculation as to whether the burial site should be restored.
In Russia, cemeteries are springing up like mushrooms. They are military cemeteries. The longer the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine lasts, the more graves suddenly line the muddy streets of the Russian provinces. Such a cemetery was also created last March near the village Nikolaevka in Samara region.
Around 200 Wagner fighters were buried here. Regular Russian soldiers have also been buried here. They all died in the war in Ukraine. Last April, Yevgeny Prigozhin personally inaugurated a memorial plaque for his fallen fighters here. “Here are buried fighters of the private military organization Wagner who died for their homeland in 2022-2023,” reads the inscription on the black stone that Prigozhin unveiled.
“We are on the Alley of Heroes near Samara, where Wagner fighters are buried, on the Alley of Glory,” said Prigozhin pathos at the time. “This is a monument that will stand here for centuries so that our descendants will remember their exploits,” he explained in a video message.
“The burial mounds were razed to the ground”
But now it looks as if the monument has not survived the centuries. The graves of the Wagner fighters have at least already been demolished. Residents report this to local media. Crosses and wreaths were piled up, machines were being used, burial mounds were being razed to the ground,” eyewitnesses told the local news site 63.ru.
The portal published several pictures from the site, showing excavators in action as well as the wooden crosses that were torn off. The photos that readers sent to the editors show that only the new part of the cemetery with the soldiers’ graves has been demolished. The old tombs are untouched.
Wagner mercenaries in a rage: “That’s blasphemy”
Wagner mercenary Sergei Trifonov filmed on site. Last Friday he published a recording on the Russian social network VKontakte, which shows him in Wagner gear in front of the monument to the fallen mercenaries. “Everything has been demolished where the graves were,” he says angrily into the camera. “What are you doing! That’s blasphemy. These people died for Russia! And you leveled their graves!”
Trifonov’s speech is interspersed with swear words. He can barely contain his anger. “What are you doing? You’re not afraid of God anymore, you’re not afraid of anything!”
In the video, he shows the torn-off crosses lying in heaps in the mud. The wreaths are also lying next to them – some in the colors of the Wagner troupe, others in the Russian tricolor.
Should the Wagner cemetery be redesigned?
Local residents reported to the portal “63.ru” that uniform black pyramids are to be built on the site of the demolished graves, which will bear the names of the deceased. The Telegram channel “Wagner Orchestra” reported that, according to the workers, they should not destroy the tombs, but prepare the site for the installation of the pyramids. “A plan of all the graves was prepared in advance, with all the inscriptions that are to be placed on the pyramids. A priest was even invited,” reported the Telegram channel. According to this information, all work should be completed within two weeks.
After Information from the Russian service of the BBC work began on August 19th. In an informal conversation, the cemetery staff stated that they were carrying out “planned landscape improvements on the site of the graves on behalf of the administration”. The work should be completed in early September.
So it will soon become clear whether the military cemetery will actually be redesigned or leveled with the ground.