Putin not planning to attend Prigozhin funeral
Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a mysterious plan disaster last week on his way through Russian airspace
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the funeral for the recently deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The Kremlin made the announcement following reports that the Wagner Group mercenary leader is expected to be buried this week.
Prigozhin's funeral could be as early as Tuesday, though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the Russian government was unable to comment on a private funeral.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a televised address in Moscow. (Reuters)
Russian news outlet Fontanka reported that Prigozhin is expected to be laid to rest at Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
The ceremony and burial are reportedly being arranged by family.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prigozhin, self-proclaimed founder and leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, was reportedly aboard a destroyed plane crash in Russia just two months after he marched his troops toward Moscow.
NOTORIOUS RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF TAPPED TO REPLACE PRIGOZHIN IN WAGNER'S AFRICA OPERATIONS
A portrait of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is placed at an informal memorial in St. Petersburg, Russia. Prigozhin was aboard a plane that crashed north of Moscow. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
The business jet was traveling from the Russian capital to St. Petersburg went it went down in the Tver region, according to the TASS news agency.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Putin previously made cryptic remarks regarding the plane disaster that killed Prigozhin and other high-ranking leaders of the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group.
"I would want to note that these people made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. We remember this, we know it, and we will not forget it," Putin said in praise of Wagner forces' initial support invading Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, speaks while holding a Russian flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 1990s. He was a man with a complex destiny, and he made serious mistakes in life," the Russian president continued. "He achieved the results he needed both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause, as in these last months. He was a talented person, a talented businessman."
Without acknowledging international speculation that the Russian government was involved in the mercenary leader's death, Putin gave assurance an investigation was underway.