Mourners gathered today at a cemetery in the former Russian imperial capital of St. Petersburg, despite the light summer rain, to honor the memory of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who, according to them, gave his life in the service of the country, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The agency notes that Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in a plane crash on August 23 last year at the age of 62 was the strange end of one of the most colorful figures in modern Russia. Prigozhin, a catering business owner turned leader of the Wagner mercenary group, rose to prominence after Russia sent its army into Ukraine in February 2022. His fighters, including thousands of convicts he recruited from prisons, were on front line in the capture of Bakhmut - one of the longest and bloodiest battles since the beginning of the war.
Next to Prigozhin's grave at the Porohovo cemetery, an Orthodox priest read a prayer and crossed himself.
People who came to pay their respects said that Prigozhin should be remembered as a hero of the homeland.
"There are such personalities as (Soviet cosmonaut) Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, whom we should be proud of,'' said a man who identified himself as Dmitry, speaking at the grave of the 'Wagner' leader. He defined Prigogine as a man who took the "patriotic course" out of love for his country and as an example for future generations.
At the memorial erected on a busy street in the center of the capital Moscow, admirers had left dozens of bouquets of red and white roses under a wall decorated with photographs of Prigozhin and his entourage. Passers-by stopped to solemnly look at the photos, and one of them looked up to the sky and crossed himself, notes Reuters.
Prigogin, who used the significant presence of "Wagner" on social media to talk about his successes on the battlefield, got into a row with the Russian military command last summer, when he repeatedly accused the army's top leadership of incompetence and even betrayal. In June of last year, he led a short-lived rebellion in which fighters of "Wagner" took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow before turning back.
Exactly two months later, the leader of "Wagner" died after his plane mysteriously crashed north of Moscow, killing all on board.
Mourners have since paid tribute to Prigozhin at makeshift memorials across the country, although Russia's ruling elite has taken a less favorable view of the man who mounted the most serious challenge to President Vladimir Putin's power since he came to power in 1999. notes Reuters.
At the cemetery in St. Petersburg, some said that the war in Ukraine would have been closer to an end if Prigozhin had lived.