Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed last week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The private Embraer Legacy 600 private jet on which Yevgeny Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed in the Tver region north of Moscow on Aug. 23 with the loss of all 10 people on board, including two other top leaders of Wagner and four men reported to be Prigozhin's bodyguards.
It is still unclear what caused the plane to crash but villagers near the crash scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.
When asked if President Putin would attend the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "The presence of the president is not envisaged."
Peskov said the Kremlin did not have any specific information about the funeral plans, and the arrangements were up to relatives.
The day after the crash, President Putin sent his condolences to the families of those killed and said he had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the chaotic years of the early 1990s.
"He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life," he said, while describing him as a talented businessman.
The crash came two months to the day after Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries staged a mutiny against Putin's top military commanders in which they took control of the southern city of Rostov and advanced towards Moscow before turning back 200 km (125 miles) from the capital.
The mutiny posed the biggest challenge to Putin's rule since he took power on the last day of 1999. The Kremlin has rejected as an "absolute lie" the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators - for which they have not provided evidence - that President Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.
US President Joe Biden said last week he was not surprised by the death and that not much happened in Russia that Putin was not behind.
Investigators said on Sunday that genetic tests had confirmed that Prigozhin was among the 10 people killed in the crash. Also on board was Dmitry Utkin, the co-founder of Wagner and the group's top military commander, and Valery Chekalov, the head of Wagner logistics.
Russia's Fontanka media reported on Tuesday that associates of Chekalov had gathered at the Severnoye cemetery in St Petersburg for his funeral.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
'Why Are We Always Targeted?': Bangladeshi Hindus, Md. Yunus Assures Safety
Trade, Tech: PM Modi, Putin Discuss Ways To Diversify India-Russia Cooperation Wagner Chief Prigozhin Remembered As "Great Man", Year After Russia Mutiny "Pulp Fiction": Russia On Report Blaming Putin For Wagner Chief's Death Trump, Musk Groove To Bee Gees' 'Stayin' Alive' In AI-Video Now Viral 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court "Want To Ask Congress...": Mamata Banerjee Snaps At Ally In Rape-Murder Case US Judge Says "Monopolist" Google Can't Avoid App Store Reforms NASA To Decide Stranded Starliner Astronauts' Route Home By End Of Month Mob Vandalises Hospital During Protest Over Kolkata Horror Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.