Wagner Group rebel Yevgeny Prigozhin buried in private ceremony in St. Petersburg: Russian outlets

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a suspicious plane crash after his short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin, was buried in a private ceremony Tuesday, said his reps and Russian media.

Remains identified by Moscow as those of the rogue warlord were buried next to his father in the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown of St. Petersburg, according to his press service and Russian outlets.

The quiet service for the 62-year-old was not attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is rumored to have been behind Wednesday’s apparent explosion that took down the private plane said to be carrying the rebel, six of his associates and three crew members.

The Kremlin has denied responsibility for the aviation disaster, and Putin last week offered his condolences to his former longtime ally’s family — although in an ominous statement that referenced Prigozhin’s “serious mistakes” and “complicated fate.”

Putin had previously accused Prigozhin of “treason” after he ordered his paramilitary group to take over the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don on Ukraine’s border, shoot down Russian aircraft and march toward Moscow to overthrow defense leadership, which he criticized over its handling of the Ukrainian war.

A deal was quickly brokered for Prigozhin to end his mutiny in exchange for amnesty in Belarus — but many experts said the damage was already done to Putin, who faced his biggest threat to his authoritarian rule since he rose to power 1999.

Although Prigozhin had previously reportedly been awarded Russia’s highest military honor for leading his band of Kremlin-funded mercenaries into Ukraine to supplement the country’s unprovoked invasion, his private funeral was devoid of the pomp and circumstance that would traditionally adorn one for a decorated war hero.

A funeral was also held at another St. Petersburg cemetery Tuesday for Wagner’s logistics chief, Valery Chekalov, who was killed in the crash along with Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin’s second-in-command, and four fighters and bodyguards.

With Post wires