‘We don’t need heroes who marched on Moscow’: Kremlin and FSB decided to bury Yevgeny Prigozhin secretly, without military honors

The decision to bury Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin secretly, without either military honors or publicity, was made by Russia’s presidential administration and the state security service.

Citing two high-ranking Russian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Moscow Times reported that several meetings took place between the Kremlin officials and the FSB to discuss the funeral protocol.

Vladimir Putin’s First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergey Kiriyenko was a key player in determining how to handle the sensitive event.

According to one of the insiders to the decision-making process, the task was to make sure that “when the casket with Prigozhin’s body was being lowered into the grave, there wouldn’t be any mass gathering of residents, mercenaries, and sympathizers.” Another aim was to prevent any live-streaming on social media or photos being taken, “starting from the entrance to the cemetery.”

Another speaker explained the prohibition on publicity in terms of Putin’s grudge for the insurrection attempted by Prigozhin and Wagner Group earlier this summer.

“With his demand for justice and his sharp, often truthful remarks, Prigozhin elicited an emotion from the Russians, not as a formal Hero of Russia but as a people’s hero. And do we need heroes who marched on Moscow?” asked one of the officials, rhetorically. “No, we don’t.”

As a result of these deliberations, the authorities resolved to create a “smoke screen” around the proceedings, to minimize publicity and excitement about Prigozhin’s last farewell, and even to keep its location secret until after the fact.