Current:Home > MarketsWagner Group leader killed in plane crash buried in private funeral -GrowthInsight
Wagner Group leader killed in plane crash buried in private funeral
View
Date:2025-04-13 09:46:44
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was buried in a private funeral on Tuesday, his press service said, nearly a week after he and nine others died in a plane crash in Russia.
Prigozhin, 62, was buried at the Prokhorov Cemetery of St. Petersburg in a closed funeral, his press service said on Telegram.
About 20 to 30 people attended the 40-minute "VIP" funeral, according to a cemetery employee. The attendees were all dressed in civilian clothes, with no military uniforms seen, and included relatives and close associates of Prigozhin, the employee said.
Prigozhin, a businessman who rose to become a powerful international paramilitary leader, was a former close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Kremlin spokesperson told reporters earlier Tuesday that Putin was not planning to attend Prigozhin's funeral.
Prigozhin's private plane mysteriously crashed on Aug. 23 near the town of Kuzhenkino, north of Moscow. DNA tests showed that the remains recovered from the site matched all 10 people on the passenger list, which included Prigozhin and Wagner Group co-founder Dmitry Utkin, Russian investigators said this week.
The crash may have been caused by an explosion on board the plane, perhaps by a well-placed bomb, U.S. officials told ABC News last week, describing their findings from an initial investigation.
There was no indication a surface-to-air missile was the cause of the crash, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
MORE: DNA confirms Wagner Group leader among crash victims, Russian officials say
The death of Prigozhin came exactly two months after he led a daylong mutiny against Moscow.
Wagner Group forces, which had been fighting in Ukraine, turned from their headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a key Russian city near the southern border, and marched toward the capital in the evening on June 23. Within a day, they had turned back.
Asked on Tuesday whether the U.S. believes Putin was behind the plane crash that killed Prigozhin, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre laid out the Kremlin's "long history" of "killing its opponents," before telling reporters it's "pretty evident what happened here."
The Kremlin has vehemently denied having any involvement in the plane crash.
"There has been a lot of speculation around this crash [and] the tragic deaths of the plane's passengers, among them Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, the West presents all this speculation from a particular angle. All of that is sheer lies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters last week.
MORE: Bomb likely the cause of explosion that downed Wagner leader Prigozhin's plane, US officials say
Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the incident.
In a televised address a day after the crash, Putin said Prigozhin was a "man with a complex destiny, and he made serious mistakes in life."
"He achieved the results he needed both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause, as in these last months," Putin said.
ABC News' Kevin Shalvey, Edward Szekeres and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- Miranda Lambert calls out fan T-shirt amid selfie controversy: 'Shoot tequila, not selfies'
- ICN’s ‘Harvesting Peril’ Wins Prestigious Oakes Award for Environmental Journalism
- Attacks on Brazil's schools — often by former students — spur a search for solutions
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- What we know about the Indiana industrial fire that's forced residents to evacuate
- Why do some people get UTIs over and over? A new report holds clues
- At a Nashville hospital, the agony of not being able to help school shooting victims
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- This Week in Clean Economy: Pressure Is on Obama to Finalize National Solar Plan
Ranking
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Sherri Shepherd tributes 'The View' co-creator Bill Geddie: 'He absolutely changed my life'
- In a supreme court race like no other, Wisconsin's political future is up for grabs
- Full transcript of Face the Nation, June 18, 2023
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- Rep. Cori Bush marks Juneteenth with push for reparations
- Greening of Building Sector on Track to Deliver Trillions in Savings by 2030
- ‘A Death Spiral for Research’: Arctic Scientists Worried as Alaska Universities Face 40% Funding Cut
Recommendation
Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
Kansas doctor dies while saving his daughter from drowning on rafting trip in Colorado
These Amazon Travel Essentials Will Help You Stick To Your Daily Routine on Vacation
The future availability of abortion pills remains uncertain after conflicting rulings
Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
With 10 Appointees on the Ninth Circuit, Trump Seeks to Tame His Nemesis
The dream of wiping out polio might need a rethink
10 Cooling Must-Haves You Need if It’s Too Hot for You To Fall Asleep