The co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner was buried near Moscow on Thursday, after dying in an unexplained plane crash that also killed his boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Dmitry Utkin, 53, whose call-sign "Wagner" gave the private army its name, was buried in Mytishchi, on the outskirts of the capital, in a ceremony cordoned off by Russian military police, according to the popular online news channel Shot.
The "Caution, news" Telegram channel said police and members of the Rosgvardia national guard had come to pay their respects, along with a busload of members of the far-right Rusich militia affiliated with Wagner.in a quiet family ceremony in his hometown of St Petersburg that contrasted starkly with his loud and often foul-mouthed presence on social media.
that advanced towards Moscow to back Prigozhin's demand that the military leadership resign over its failures in what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
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