The founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been laid to rest under a shroud of secrecy.

Prigozhin was buried away from the glare of the media in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia. Authorities maintained a security cordon around the cemetery. The announcement about his burial was made on Tuesday.

Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash on August 23 -- two months after he had led a mutiny against Russian military leaders.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had no plans to attend the funeral. He had previously called the suggestion that Putin ordered Prigozhin's death an "absolute lie."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean- Pierre quoted President Joe Biden as saying "there's not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind."

Jean- Pierre added, "We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Prigozhin's death shows Russian leaders cannot be trusted.

Kuleba said, "He had a conflict with Putin. He negotiated successfully with Putin, resolved the conflict, and got security guarantees. And then Putin killed him."

Kuleba added that there is no reason to believe that Putin will behave differently in any other negotiations.