Yevgeny Prigozhin was the former head of mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC buried Tuesday in a private ceremony– the press service of Concordia reported, but the Russian press has already started publishing images from the grave of ex-head Wagner, while the police and the National Guard are guarding the Powder Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

The funerals were held away from the cameras and in stark contrast to the publicity style in which Prigozhin built his reputation outside of Russia for his brutality and ambition.

“The farewell ceremony for Yevhen Viktorovych took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye can visit the Porokhov cemetery,” Concordia’s press service reported in a short Telegram post.

Photos posted on social media show a granite headstone surrounded by a sea of ​​flowers, mostly red roses, in a cemetery on the northeastern outskirts of his hometown.

The footage also shows how many law enforcement officers, police and national guardsmen are guarding the cemetery where Prigozhin was buried on Tuesday.

PHOTO Dmytro Lovetskyi / AP / Profimedia

A poem by Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky was printed on a piece of paper, and then placed in a frame over the grave of leader Wagner.

PHOTO Olga MALTSEVA / AFP / Profimedia

A private event, in contrast to Prigozhin’s personality

The event could not be turned into a large-scale public demonstration of support for Prigozhin, a brutal figure who was nevertheless admired by some in Russia for throwing his mercenaries into the fiercest fighting of the war in Ukraine and speaking openly about the shortcomings of the Russian military and its management, Reuters notes.

Prigozhin’s funeral also differed from that of Valery Chekalov, head of Wagner Logistics, who also died in a plane crash and is also buried in St. Petersburg, but in a different cemetery. His family was joined by dozens of people, some of whom were identified by Reuters as Wagner mercenaries and employees of Prigozhin’s business empire.

Some, including women and children wearing dark glasses, came to kiss his coffin.

Some analysts, the Guardian noted, suggested that Russian authorities on Tuesday tried to mislead the public about where Prigozhin was buried in order to avoid a spontaneous show of support for Prigozhin.

Since Prigozhin’s death, the Kremlin has allegedly made sure not to turn Prigozhin’s funeral into a large-scale public demonstration of his support.

The crash of Prigozhin’s plane was modestly evaluated on Russian state television, in contrast to the widespread outrage following the deaths of prominent propagandists, including Daria Dugina and Vladlen Tatarskyi.