Hundreds of people have placed flowers, photographs, candles and flags — including some bearing the private military group’s skull design — at a small sidewalk memorial near Red Square in Moscow. Like many who agreed to be interviewed, Alyona did not want to give her last name because of the political sensitivity surrounding Mr. Prigozhin, who frequently criticized how the war was conducted and launched a brief rebellion against the military’s leadership two months ago. “No one ever abandoned me; they helped me, they did everything that was necessary and provided me with everything that was needed,” said Prapor, who added that he had personally met Mr. Prigozhin. But in a country where little is said about the casualties, the sidewalk memorial became a rare place for people to mourn publicly. Mr. Prigozhin, Alyona said, was unique in his generation in his ability and willingness to openly discuss the issues plaguing Russian society.

---

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny V, ”, Alyona, Prigozhin, didn’t, Dmitri Utkin, Nanna Heitmann, “, Prapor, Dmitri Utkin —, —, Kirill, Mr, Prigozhin’s, “ Wagner, Natalia, Sergei K, Shoigu —, Vladimir V, Putin, “ Evgeny Prigozhin, Shoigu, Sergei, ” Sergei, Aleksei A, Elena, “ I’ve, Vladlen Tatarsky, Daria Dugina, Lenin, Stalin, Milana Mazaeva Organizations: ” Volunteers, The New York Times, The New York, ., Kremlin, Police, Wagner Group, Ministry of Defense Locations: Red, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Prigozhin ., Mariupol, Russia, St . Petersburg, Washington