A group of former soldiers and supporters of the Wagner paramilitary group, that was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, held the memorial in a Moscow street.
On the anniversary of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin – the founder and head of the Wagner paramilitary group – soldiers who fought under his command and people who sympathised with his ideas gathered at the makeshift memorial site on Varvarka Street in Moscow.
Prigozhin died after the plane he was travelling on crashed 100 kilometres north of Moscow on August 23 last year. Prigozhin rose to prominence after Russia sent its military into Ukraine in February 2022.
He often found himself at odds with senior military figures, accusing them of incompetence and treachery over lack of support and supplies.
Then, for months in 2023, Prigozhin complained bitterly about the military brass denying his forces the ammunition that he said was in too short supply in Ukraine. In open political infighting, he blasted then-Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief General Valery Gerasimov in profane rants on social media, blaming them for military setbacks and accusing them of corruption.
The Defence Ministry’s order for Wagner to sign contracts with the regular military appeared to be the final trigger for Prigozhin’s rebellion on 23-24 June 2023.
His mercenaries swiftly took over Russia’s southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, reportedly hoping to capture Shoigu and Gerasimov. But they weren’t there.
Prigozhin ordered his forces to roll toward Moscow, saying it wasn’t a military coup but a “march of justice” to unseat his foes. The mercenaries downed several military aircraft en route, killing over a dozen pilots. Security forces in Moscow went on alert, and checkpoints were set up on the southern outskirts.
“Our sacred duty, each of us, regardless of age, health or anything else, is to help the front. Because if we do not want the enemy to be here tomorrow, then we must stop him there,” Yevgeny Dolganov, lead singer of the Russian Flag group, told those present at the memorial.
“It has been a year since the death of the commander of the Wagner. A year and a half since we created this memorial. No matter how much our enemies would like the memory of our heroes to disappear. No, the memory is alive . And God forbid that there be this memorial. Not just a popular memorial, but a memorial of state and federal significance. Because the feat of our soldiers must not be forgotten,” he added.
It’s widely suspected that President Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed. A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded there was an intentional explosion on board his plane and Western officials have pointed to a long list of Putin foes who have been assassinated.
The Kremlin has denied involvement and rejected Western allegations that Putin was behind it as an “absolute lie”.
Prigozhin was buried in his hometown of St Petersburg in a private ceremony.
