Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s funeral took place “in a closed format,” according to Concord Management, the company Prigozhin owned.
The company did not specify when the funeral took place.
“Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery” in St. Petersburg, Concord’s press service added.
According to Russian media outlet MSK1, Prigozhin was buried at the cemetery at about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday.
“That’s what the relatives wished,” the cemetery said in response to MSK1’s question about why the place of burial was not previously reported.
Independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that about 30 people attended the funeral. CNN cannot verify the report.
Agentstvo reported there were “no people in military uniform at the ceremony,” according to an employee of the cemetery.
It quoted the employee as saying:
“There were 20 to 30 people. Only relatives, I know them. The ceremony went on for 40 minutes. All were in civilian clothes.”
“I did not see the military. I’ve been in the industry for over 30 years, nothing out of the ordinary for me, just a VIP funeral. They are not the first and, most likely, not the last,” the employee said.
Video and images show that Prigozhin appears to have been buried next to his father. Images analyzed by CNN show a headstone next to Prigozhin’s burial site that reads: “Viktor Evgenievich Prigozhin 1935-1970.” It was already known that his father died when Prigozhin was still a boy.
The cemetery is an old, small one that is partially closed on the northeast outskirts of the city.
More background: Prigozhin was confirmed dead by Russian investigators Sunday. He was among the 10 people killed when their plane crashed last week.
The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin — who was once called President Vladimir Putin’s “personal chef” — led an armed insurrection against the Russian leader. Prigozhin, whose fighters secured rare victories for the Kremlin on the battlefield, had railed against the country’s military brass over their handling of the Ukraine war.
The Kremlin said decisions on Prigozhin’s burial would be for his family to make and that it would be a private affair. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had ruled out Putin’s attendance at Prigozhin’s funeral.
On Tuesday, a funeral service for Valeriy Chekalov, who organized Wagner’s logistics, was held at Severnoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, according to multiple media outlets. Earlier, a CNN team saw police guards and road closures near another of the city’s graveyards — the Serafimovskoye cemetery — amid speculation Prigozhin’s burial might take place there.
CNN