How Russia Kept Prigozhin's Funeral Secret

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was laid to rest in secret on Tuesday, thanks to an elaborate plan that reportedly included redirecting even authorities to the wrong cemetery as part of a distraction technique.

A private burial was held for Prigozhin two days after the Russian Investigative Committee announced that genetic tests confirm he was one of 10 people killed when a private jet he owned, that had been flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia's Tver region on August 23.

Prigozhin's business jet crashed exactly two months after he led an uprising against Russia's military leadership. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately clear, although some reports suggest the jet was downed by Russian air defenses.

Ukraine, where Wagner mercenaries had been heavily involved in the war's fighting, has denied responsibility. The Kremlin said speculation that Prigozhin had been killed on Putin's orders was an "absolute lie."

Details of Prigozhin's funeral arrangements were kept secret until the last minute, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that Putin would be skipping the event, and that he doesn't have "any information about the funeral. This is a decision for family and friends."

There was no official announcement of when and where Prigozhin's funeral would happen.

Local media reported that journalists and police gathered at St. Petersburg's Serafimovskoye cemetery, where they were falsely told the funeral would be held.

A coffin carried by a hearse to Serafimovskoye cemetery was empty, according to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which has close ties to Russian security forces. Meanwhile, Prigozhin was buried at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown, where his father was buried.

The term "special burial operation" began circulating among journalists to describe the secretive funeral proceedings, according to Russian independent investigative news outlet Meduza.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry via email for comment.

At around 5:00 p.m. local time, the Telegram for Prigozhin's press service published a message, stating that "the farewell ceremony for Yevgeny Prigozhin was held in private [...] at the Porokhovskoye cemetery."

The ceremony was attended by Prigozhin's relatives and friends—some 20 to 30 people.

After that message was released, the Porokhovskoye cemetery was almost instantly patrolled by armed police. Metal detectors and barricades were installed at the entrance, VChK-OGPU reported. The cemetery was cordoned off by police and the National Guard.

Local media reports said passers-by were prohibited from entering.

Meanwhile, Prigozhin's funeral was largely ignored on Russian state TV. Just one top news channel, Russia 1, mentioned it, but gave the event less than one minute of air time, saying that it took place "without outsiders and the press at the request of the family."

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and founder of R. Politik Reality of Russian Politics, a political analysis company, told Newsweek Prigozhin's death marks "the end of Wagner."

"When the mutiny happened...I wrote a post on Telegram saying that it's an end. It took time, and it will last yet a couple of months. But it's the end. They can't exist," Stanovaya said.

She continued: "There will be no successor, there will be no united commandership. It will be mandated and absorbed by different structures, not necessarily by Russia's Defense Ministry."

Putin will not accept anyone who attempts to assume the same role Prigozhin had, she added.

She said on her Telegram channel that Prigozhin's secretive burial "became the final stage of a special operation to eliminate him."

"Everything was as closed as possible, under full control of the security forces, with distracting maneuvers," Stanovaya said.

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