\n Russian supporters of Yevgeny Prigozhin gathered outside the Wagner headquarters in Saint Petersburg on Thursday to pay their respects to the mercenary group's boss, presumed dead after a mysterious plane crash.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prigozhin was branded a \"traitor\" by President Vladimir Putin after his short-lived rebellion against the conventional Russian army on June 23-24.\n<\/p>\n
\n But he remained popular among Russians, who acclaimed the battlefield achievements of the Wagner paramilitary group -- despite many accusations of abuses and war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"You could say it's like losing your father,\" said Igor, one visitor to the building, who was wearing a hat with the Wagner logo and the national flag on it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He was everything to us, because everyone was always waiting (for) what Uncle Zhenia (Prigozhin) was going to say.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Like Igor, many Russians eagerly awaited Prigozhin's outspoken videos and audio messages on social media.\n<\/p>\n
\n The expletive-packed clips were a sharp contrast to the tightly controlled narrative of Russian officials.\n<\/p>\n
\n His verve and unbridled criticism of Russia's regular army had turned him into a cult figure for parts of Russian society -- and antagonised Moscow's top brass.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tensions degenerated into a violent but short-lived mutiny at the end of June.\n<\/p>\n
\n The rebellion ended with a deal, mediated by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, under which Prigozhin was expected to move to neighbouring Belarus with some of his fighters.\n<\/p>\n
\n There was no mention of Prigozhin's rebellion -- or the ensuing public repudiation by Putin -- from the mourners laying red carnations in front of Wagner's glass-fronted multi-storey headquarters, opened last autumn to great fanfare.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'An orphan' -\n<\/p>\n
\n They also avoided speculating on the reasons behind the crash of the plane, on which Wagner's operational chief Dmitry Utkin was also a passenger.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian officials have launched a probe into the cause of the crash, but investigators gave no update on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mourners however expressed a familial affection for the warlord, who spent years in prison in Soviet times before making a fortune through his catering business and later building Russia's most powerful private army.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pavel Zakharov compared Prigozhin to Charles de Gaulle, France's former president and head of the resistance against the Nazis.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"You know, when in France President Charles de Gaulle died, it was said that France had become an orphan.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I can only say that for me tonight, it's probably Russia that has become an orphan,\" the 36-year-old said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Among the crowd was Natalya, a 31-year-old woman who arrived on a bike, a bouquet in hand.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said it felt as if she had lost a family member.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"For us he had become like a friend, a brother. I think this is very significant moment for the soldiers today,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n But some feared that Prigozhin's death would raise tensions in Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I hope it will not become for our society some kind of red rag to a bull,\" said Natalya.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Logical news' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Some Muscovites were also mourning.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is a great tragedy for our country,\" said Andrei Senkin, a 53-year-old businessman.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It is a very sad situation. We feel sorry for the heroes of our country [PMC Wagner], who are in demand today more than ever.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n And in Moscow at least, some speculated on the reasons of the crash.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There can be several versions,\" Nikita Gushchev, 21, told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It could be shot down by air-defence systems or it could be a terrorist attack. Or it could be a staged death to let him live in peace.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Prigozhin's fate had been a matter of speculation for two months, since he led a rebellion widely seen as the biggest challenge to Putin's more than two decades-long rule.\n<\/p>\n
\n In an unusual deal with Minsk, the Kremlin \"guaranteed\" he would be allowed to live in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I think no one was surprised, including me,\" said Veronika Anokhina, a 32-year-old entrepreneur of the air crash.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It's very logical news in the succession of news in our country.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian supporters of Yevgeny Prigozhin gathered outside the Wagner headquarters in Saint Petersburg on Thursday to pay their respects to the mercenary group's boss, presumed dead after a mysterious plane crash. Prigozhin was branded a \"traitor\" by President Vladimir Putin after his short-lived rebellion against the conventional Russian army on June 23-24. But he remained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-120640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n