Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Despite promises by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin that his convict fighters will be treated as heros and given all honours, ordinary Russians are not so keen on making heroes out of convicted murderers, as an incident in Transbaikalia has shown. ⬇️

2/ 23-year-old Nikita Kasatkin, who was serving a 10 year prison sentence after being convicted of murder in 2020, died fighting for Wagner three months after joining the mercenary group.

3/ His relatives faced opposition from the residents of the village of Zhireken in the Trans-Baikal Territory when they sought to arrange a funeral with honours of him, according to a regional news website.

4/ Village head Alena Kogodeeva said: "We have a really ambiguous situation in the village. The young man was convicted of murder. It was only two or three years ago, people remember it.

5/ Half of the village says: “Are we going to make heroes out of killers now?” The other half say that he atoned for his sins with his blood. The village was divided into two camps, where they fight among themselves. We understand that a person just needs to be seen off."

6/ Katsatkin's relatives had initially wanted to hold the funeral at the village's cultural centre but were rebuffed on the grounds that its atmosphere was "not mournful". Local officials intervened to resolve the dispute.

7/ Viktor Nadelayev, the head of the local Chernyshevsky district, met with the relatives to discuss funeral options.

8/ He was recorded on video saying: "This guy died in a special military operation, defending the interests of our state, our region, Chernyshevsky district and the settlement of Zhireken. These are our people, they protect you and me, they protect our state.

9/ They are heroes, and we will give them all honours. ... Together with the people of Zhireken village, we will see him off to his last journey as a hero who died defending our interests."

10/ Nadelayev said that he had told the people of Zhireken that "everyone is equal for us. And those called up for mobilisation, volunteers and contract servicemen. And all the dead are people who gave their lives defending our interests and the interests of the state.

11/ Several options were offered for holding the farewell. They were offered at home, in the church, in a funeral parlour and in the House of Culture. They chose the church, but they will give a final answer tomorrow morning."

12/ The Ministry of Culture later reported that the relatives agreed to arrange a funeral in the house of Kasatkin's great aunt, located in Zhireken. /end

Sources:
🔹 chita.ru/text/society/2…
🔹 t.me/news_sirena/10…
🔹 chita.ru/text/society/2…

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