Graves at a cemetery for Wagner Group mercenaries in the village of Nikolayevka, Samara Oblast, have had their crosses removed and been bulldozed to the ground.

Details: Local residents said that the crosses and wreaths had been piled up like rubbish, and the graves themselves had been levelled to the ground with heavy machinery.

Following publicity on social media, local media outlets reported that the avenue where the Wagnerites were buried would become a flat area of ground. It will be paved with concrete, and a black pyramid will supposedly appear on the site of each grave.

The Wagner mercenaries’ cemetery appeared in Samara Oblast several months ago. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, unveiled a memorial stele at the cemetery in April which, judging by the photographs, has not been demolished.

As yet there has been no official comment from the Samara Oblast authorities on the demolition of the mercenaries' graves.

Background: 

• On the evening of 23 August, a small plane crashed in Russia’s Tver Oblast. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, was listed as having been on board.

• The Federal Air Transport Agency’s complete list of passengers on the plane that crashed in Tver Oblast on the evening of 23 August included Yevgeny Prigozhin.

• Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking revenge for the humiliation caused by the Wagner Group mutiny and ordered the assassination of their leadership.