War
Kremlin: Putin does not attend Prigozhin’s funeral
View of a portrait of Russian mercenary leader Prigozhin at an informal memorial in Moscow for the members of the Wagner Group who died in the plane crash. photo
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
Mercenary leader Prigozhin died when his private jet crashed last week. The funeral is to take place today in St. Petersburg. However, President Putin will not be there.
According to official information, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin attend. “The president’s participation is not planned,” said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday, according to the Interfax news agency. The Russian leadership also has no concrete information about the funeral, the relatives would decide on the date, said Peskov.
Prigozhin’s private jet crashed last week. According to the authorities, all ten occupants on board the machine died.
In the morning, the independent Internet portal Fontanka from St. Petersburg reported that Prigozhin’s funeral was to take place on Tuesday in the metropolis. Preparations were underway, mourners had arrived at several cemeteries.
Prigozhin’s plane crashed about halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg in the Tver region. According to official information, he was on board. The cause of the crash has not yet been clarified. However, large parts of the Russian public as well as Western governments assume that the private jet of the Wagner boss was deliberately brought down.
Priogoshin (62), whose fighters fought alongside the regular Russian army against Ukraine for months, had instigated a mutiny against the military and state leadership in Moscow in June out of frustration at the lack of supplies. However, this was over after about a day.