Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin will not attend the funeral of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the mercenary who launched a failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership and was killed in a plane crash last week, the Kremlin spokesman said Tuesday, according to the Russian stands. media.
The spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, added that the Kremlin had no further information about the funeral, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Details about the event, including the date and whether the public would be allowed to attend, were unclear.
A private jet carrying Mr Prigozhin and nine other people crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, killing everyone on board. However, his death was not officially confirmed until Sunday, when Russian researchers said genetic testing showed the victims of the crash matched the names on the card. the manifesto of the jet. The confirmation came after days of speculation over whether Mr Prigozhin was really on the plane.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, but U.S. and Western officials believe the crash was caused by an onboard explosion. Many Western officials have said they think it is likely that Putin played a role in Prigozhin’s death in retaliation for the mercenary chief’s short-lived mutiny in June.
The day after the crash, Mr. Putin spoke obliquely about Mr. Prigozhin’s death, saying: “He made some serious mistakes in his life, but he also achieved the necessary results.”
Valeria Safronova reporting contributed.
