Yevgeny Prigozhin It appears he will be denied the state funeral he is entitled to attend after the Kremlin said it expected the mercenary leader’s family to make arrangements for it.
Prigozhin, who owes his meteoric rise to power to Vladimir PutinHe fell out of favor with the Kremlin after staging a failed rebellion in June. He died when his plane Crashed in Russia on Wednesday.
Kremlin observers said the funeral For the leader of the Wagner Group It would be a strong indication of what will happen to his legacy.
months before He sent his forces towards MoscowPrigozhin was awarded the Order of the Hero of Russia, a prestigious medal that entitles the recipient to a state funeral with an honorary guard.
However, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, did not confirm on Monday whether Prigozhin would be formally buried, telling Russian news agencies: “Usually such decisions are made with the family, and it is up to the family to bury it.” Decide.”
Asked if Putin will attend the funeral, Peskov said he could not say because he had no information about the funeral arrangements.
Over the weekend, Russian media reported that DNA tests confirmed that the Wagner leader and his top commanders were among the plane crash victims. Peskov said the tests were carried out on Sunday.
Sergey Markov, an expert close to the Kremlin, said on Monday that Moscow would likely opt for a small funeral without military honors, which would discourage “large-scale patriotic farewell ceremonies and gatherings.”
Mr. Prigozhin’s body was identified and taken away Russian media reported that he had returned home to St Petersburg after taking a final nucleic acid test on Sunday.
