A private memorial service was held for deceased Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin on Tuesday morning, as reported by his spokespeople.
While specifics about the funeral were not released to the public, one striking detail emerged. Global News reported that Vladimir Putin announced he would not be in attendance, confirmed by Kremlin officials.
The former mercenary chief was confirmed dead via DNA testing on Sunday, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. The Wagner plane in which he was a passenger mysteriously crashed last Wednesday.
Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef,” was exiled by the Russian president after he led the Wager Group in an attempted coup on the Russian military. Putin struck a deal with the Wagner leader and granted him amnesty. Prigozhin, in exchange, sent his mercenaries to assist with the war in Ukraine.
Following the crash, the Russian president stated, "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."
His remarks have been under scrutiny.
"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," Putin 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."
The cause of the plane crash remains a mystery, but many had speculated a missile had taken it down, which has been refuted by US Defense officials. The standing theory is that there was an internal explosion on board, which Kremlin officials have vehemently denied.
