Russia: A farewell service held for Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin
mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last week, a farewell service was held for him, a report by news agency AP said on Tuesday citing Wagner spokespeople’s statement. Those who wish to bid their farewell to the 62-year-old mercenary leader should go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, his hometown, the report said citing the statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to attend a funeral for Prigozhin, the Kremlin said. Prigozhin had challenged Putin’s authority in an armed rebellion in June. Prigozhin was given Russia's highest award for leading Wagner forces in Ukraine.
Last week, Putin had said that Wagner leaders made a significant contribution to the fighting in Ukraine. He described Prigozhin as a "talented businessman" and “a man of difficult fate" who had “made serious mistakes in life", said the report. On Sunday, Russia’s top criminal investigation agency Investigative Committee officially confirmed Prigozhin’s death.
Prigozhin’s business jet plummeted from the sky minutes after taking off from Moscow for St. Petersburg on August 23. Just before the crash, the mercenary chief had returned from a trip to Africa, where he sought to expand Wagner Group’s activities.
Also on Tuesday, a funeral was held at St. Petersburg’s Northern Cemetery for Wagner’s logistics chief Valery Chekalov, who also died in the crash alongside Prigozin. Prigozhin’s second-in-command, Dmitry Utkin, a retired military intelligence officer who gave the mercenary group its name based on his own nom de guerre, was also among the 10 people killed in the crash.
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