Former Wagner private military company (PMC) commander Dmitri Utkin was buried at Mytishchi cemetery in the Moscow region on Thursday.
Footage shows the grave, on which flowers, wreaths and Wagner flags had been laid. According to media reports, the funeral was only attended by relatives and close friends at the request of his family.
Utkin along with Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin were listed as passengers on a plane that crashed in the Tver region on August 23.
On Sunday, the Russian Investigative Committee announced it had completed ‘molecular-genetic tests’ and had confirmed that the identities of those killed corresponded with the flight manifest.
Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) set up a special commission to investigate a range of possible causes of the crash. The Russian Investigative Committee sent its own team to the scene, and initiated a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (‘violation of the rules of safety of air transport movement and operation’).
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the crash, describing Prigozhin himself as a ‘talented businessman’.
While some Western nations suggested Russian state involvement, the Kremlin described such ‘speculation’ as ‘an absolute lie’.
Prigozhin led a failed armed mutiny against his country’s military leadership in June. The Wagner group has been active in the Ukraine conflict and has reportedly been involved in several African countries.
