In the village of Baku near the resort town of Goryachiy Klyuch in the Krasnodar Territory, a funeral was held for the fighters, despite the fact that local authorities opposed it. Videos from the funeral published telegram channel “Hot Key News”, which claimsthat the ceremony was attended by “hundreds” of local residents and visitors.
In turn, another telegram channel Gray zone, associated with mercenaries, claimsthat, as a result of “public outcry”, the local administration allegedly allowed the Wagnerites to hold a funeral. Officials did not comment on the situation.
Also at the funeral included appeal of the founder of PMC Wagner Evgeny Prigozhin. “Thank you to those who came and to those who supported us yesterday. We forced these bastards, who hid in their offices, not to interfere with us in this (in the burial of the dead), ”said the businessman.
March 18 Prigogine declaredthat the administration of Goryachiy Klyuch forbade the military company to bury the Wagnerites in the cemetery in the village of Baku. He also announced that the funeral would still take place on the morning of March 19.
In turn, the head of the Hot Key Sergey Belopolsky wrote in his telegram channel, which “respectfully” refers to the Wagner PMC fighters, but it’s wrong to make a resort city a place for a mass grave. He also cited “public opinion” on the matter.
“I am sure that there are enough municipalities in the region that are not resort towns for burial with the creation of appropriate memorials,” Belopolsky said.
On the same day, Prigozhin’s press office published recording of a conversation between a representative of PMC Wagner, , with the head of the Hot Key. During the call, an employee of a private military company says that the city authorities have allocated 780 places for the burial of mercenaries at the cemetery in Baku. At the time of the conversation, according to him, about 500 were already occupied. Then the PMC representative asked where he could bury eight more bodies of those who died against the backdrop of the administration’s ban.
According to his interlocutor, the governor of the region, Veniamin Kondratiev, ordered that all issues with the Wagner PMC be resolved with him directly. At the same time, he promises to negotiate with the boss.
In addition, Prigozhin’s representatives published the businessman’s appeal to the speaker of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin with complaints against Russian officials who forbade the burial of fighters of a military group. In a letter to the deputy, the founder of PMC Wagner asked for an article to be included in the Criminal Code, implying responsibility for officials who “deny the legal right to burial for volunteers” who died in the war in Ukraine.
In another appeal to the Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov the businessman demanded that Belopolsky be brought to justice under articles on “discredit” and abuse of authority.
On the eve of the funeral in the telegram channel “Unloading Wagner”, associated with PMCs, appeared videos with threats against Goryachiy Klyuch officials. “Wait, creatures, that we will have to come and deal with you, because you bitches are doing more harm than the Ukrainian army, than the Nazis, because you are the Nazis, ****** administration of the Hot Key,” — one of the mercenaries stated in the video.
Another telegram channel “Wagner Orchestra” close to the Wagnerites informedthat a representative of the PMC was summoned for questioning to the prosecutor of Goryachiy Klyuch on the fact of illegal burial. There is no official confirmation of this information. Prigozhin and his press service did not comment on this message either.
