Kremlin still seems “worried” about Prigozhin’s allure in Russia: ISW

Russian leaders are reportedly taking steps to silence information regarding the funeral for late Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, indicating that the Kremlin “remains worried” about Prigozhin’s challenge to the Russian government even after his death, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Prigozhin was laid to rest during a private burial ceremony on Tuesday, just two days after Moscow officials confirmed that the Wagner leader was one of 10 people killed in a private plane crash last week. Details regarding Prigozhin’s funeral were largely kept secret, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin—who was once Prigozhin’s close ally prior to the failed Wagner-led uprising in June—would not be attending the service.

According to the ISW’s latest assessment on the war in Ukraine, two Russian officials told independent online newspaper The Moscow Times that the Kremlin purposely kept Prigozhin’s funeral proceedings “a secret to avoid further making him a martyr.” The Wagner chief was repeatedly vocal about his discontent with the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine, and his private mercenaries fought alongside Moscow’s troops for much of the war until tensions came to a head in Prigozhin’s brief rebellion.

“The officials noted that Russian Presidential Administration’s First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Kiriyenko, officers from several intelligence agencies, and [Russia’s Federal Security Service] officials met to develop a plan that would prevent any chance of public outcry or protest and mislead the public about the location of Prigozhin’s burial,” the ISW wrote in its assessment Wednesday.

The think tank added that some Russian Telegram channels have also noted how Prigozhin’s funeral has been largely ignored by several of Russia’s state news channels, and that the ISW has observed other Telegram accounts that “baselessly” spectulate that Prigozhin survived the crash, “which may have also been an information operation to overwhelm the Russian information space with misleading reports and deflect from Prigozhin’s funeral.”

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday night via email for comment.

Several theories have speculated over what may have happened to Prigozhin’s plane, which crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg. A Telegram channel associated with the Wagner Group previously accused Russia’s anti-air defenses of shooting down the jet. Russia and Ukraine have denied having any responsibility in the crash.

A Kremlin spokesperson told reporters Wednesday that “different versions” of what happened to Prigozhin’s plane were being considered in an internal investigation, “including the version – you know what we are talking about – let’s say, a deliberate atrocity,” reported Reuters.

Part of Prigozhin’s legacy has been able to live on through video messages that have circulated on social media in the days following his death. In the clips, which the Wagner leader recorded before his mutiny in June against Moscow’s military, Prigozhin is often critical of the Russian government for its handling of the war in Ukraine. In one such video published on June 23, he assails Putin’s decision to launch the full-scale invasion in the first place.