Vladimir Putin won't attend Wagner boss Prigozhin's funeral: ‘Family matter’

Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Prigozhin's family last week breaking his silence after the plane crash.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Kremlin did not know about the planned funeral arrangements, he said, adding that this was a matter for the family.

Russian president Vladimir Putin (AP)

Yevgeny Prigozhin died when his business jet crashed last week, two months after he staged an aborted mutiny against Russian military commanders in which they took control of a southern city, Rostov. The mercenaries also advanced towards Moscow before turning back 200 km (125 miles) from the capital. The Russian president had then denounced the rebellion as “treason” but Prigozhin escaped any retaliation by the Kremlin under a deal brokered to end the revolt.

Earlier, the Kremlin rejected the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators that Vladimir Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge slamming them as an "absolute lie".

Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Prigozhin's family last week breaking his silence after the plane crash.

This comes as a former British intelligence officer said that he previously received information regarding a contract that had been put out on Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. "We had heard some weeks ago from a source that a contract had been put out on Prigozhin in Russia by senior members of the business community," Christopher Steele told Sky News, continuing, “But certainly it looks as though it may well be a revenge attack by somebody in the elite, possibly somebody very senior."