According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last week.
Prigozhin, a Putin confidant turned “traitor,” was assassinated last Wednesday, two months after instructing his forces to depose Russia’s military leadership, in what many called the most serious challenge to Putin’s authority since he took office.
“The president’s presence is not envisaged,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday when asked whether Putin would attend the funeral.
There have been no public announcements of when or where Prigozhin, who was 62, will be buried.
“We have no information specifically about the funeral. The decision in this regard is made by family and friends,” Peskov added.
Putin last week described Prigozhin as a man who had made “serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results.”
The Kremlin has dismissed speculation that it orchestrated the crash in revenge for Wagner’s march on Moscow in June.