Photo credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The late leader of the Wagner Private Military Company, Evgeny Prigozhin, has been laid to rest at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, the deceased businessman’s media team announced on Tuesday.
His burial came six days after he died in a plane crash, in Russia's Moscow capital.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russian President Vladimir Putin — who Prigozhin rose up against in June — would not attend the funeral.
According to a report by RT, the funeral was held behind closed doors, with only close relatives and friends of Prigozhin in attendance.
The exact location of the Wagner chief’s tomb has yet to be confirmed, but his media team said everyone was welcome to visit it at the graveyard.
Images circulating online suggest that the late Wagner boss was buried alongside his father, with a wooden cross erected on the grave. Russian flags and those of the private military company were flown at Prigozhin’s tomb, the photographs show.
Prigozhin was killed alongside some of his closest associates, including leaders of the Wagner Group, as well as the crew of his private jet, which crashed in Russia last Wednesday
The cause of the incident is currently being probed by the Russian Investigative Committee, which confirmed the identities of all the victims on Sunday following DNA tests.
Prigozhin led Russia’s Wagner Group of fighters, including on the front line in Ukraine, before he launched an aborted uprising against the Kremlin in June.
He died in a fiery plane crash last week two months to the day after the insurrection started.
The Kremlin has rejected accusations that Putin ordered Prigozhin’s death in revenge for the mutiny.