Commemoration in Russia one year after Yevgeny Prigozhin's death

On the anniversary of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the paramilitary group “Wagner”, soldiers who fought under his command and people who sympathized with his ideas gathered at the makeshift memorial on Varvarka Street in Moscow.

Prigozhin died when the plane he was traveling on crashed 100 kilometers north of Moscow on August 23 last year. Prigozhin rose to prominence after Russia sent its military to Ukraine in February 2022.

He often came into conflict with high-ranking military officers, accusing them of incompetence and treason due to a lack of support and supplies.

Then, in 2023, Prigozhin spent months complaining bitterly that the military leadership was withholding ammunition from his armed forces, which he said was in short supply in Ukraine. In an open political power struggle, he attacked then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov in vulgar tirades on social media, blaming them for military setbacks and accusing them of corruption.

The Defense Ministry's order to Wagner to sign contracts with the regular military seemed to be the final trigger for Prigozhin's uprising on June 23-24, 2023.

His mercenaries quickly took over Russia's southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, ostensibly in the hope of capturing Shoigu and Gerasimov. But they were not there.

Prigozhin ordered his troops to advance on Moscow, saying it was not a military coup but a “march of justice” to overthrow his enemies. Along the way, the mercenaries shot down several military aircraft, 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, state of health or other things, is to help the front. Because if we do not want the enemy to be here tomorrow, we must stop him there,” Yevgeny Dolganov, lead singer of the group “Russian Flag,” told those present at the commemoration.

“A year has passed since the death of the Wagner commander. A year and a half since we erected this monument. No matter how much our enemies want the memory of our heroes to disappear. No, the memory is alive. And God forbid that this monument should exist. Not just a popular monument, but a monument of state and federal importance. Because the feat of our soldiers must not be forgotten,” he added.

It is widely believed that President Putin ordered Prigozhin's assassination. A preliminary assessment by US intelligence concludes that there was a deliberate explosion on board his plane, and Western officials point to a long list of murdered Putin opponents.

The Kremlin denies any involvement and dismisses Western allegations that Putin was behind it as an “absolute lie.”

Prigozhin was buried in a private ceremony in his hometown of St. Petersburg.