From Nordic symbols to sledgehammer executions: Wagner’s neo-pagan rituals

From the Russian Rodnaya vera (“Родная вера”), “Native faith”, Rodnovery emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union

According to the Orthodox Eastern Church, the spirit of  Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin now ought to have embarked in heaven or hell. The religion believes it takes 40 days after death for souls to reach their final destination, a threshold that the once hotdog seller reached on 1 October.

Dozens of everyday Russians and fighters gathered in Moscow and several other Russian cities to mark the occasion, amid notable silence from officials and state media. Prigozhin, who died in a plane explosion weeks after having led the biggest mutiny Russian president Vladimir Putin has faced in his 22-year rule, is thought to be  buried at Porokhovskoye cemetery in St-Petersburg .

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It would be mistaken to believe that the mercenary boss was a strictly abiding orthodox during his life, however. Aside from a track record that would have questioned most claims to piousness, Prigozhin and his troops largely practiced  Slavic neo-paganism , or Rodnovery, an ideology closely linked to nationalist sentiments within the Russian military, especially special forces and security forces.

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