people, there wasn t doubt. i mean, we saw the plane go down. his name was on the passenger list. it was his plane. and so, yeah. i spoke to a the lo of people at the various memorials that have shot up around the country. i was in st. petersburg yesterday speaking to wagner fighters that were laying flowers there and lighting candles and stuff like that in memory of prigozhin and they were saying, we don t think he s dead and going to mexico and fighting the americans there. that is some of the sentiment compressed and maybe there are conspiracy theories out there but more most people now the issue has been laid to rest in the sense that there is that forensic confirmation that yevgeny prigozhin is dead and not out there somewhere in the ether up to no good. matthew chance, thank you very much. really appreciate it. and joining us with more analysis is former secretary of defense bill cohen. mr. secretary, great to see you as always. let s start with your reaction.
one-time ally. reporter: shocked, if not surprised, supporters of wagner s mercenary leader have been paying their respects. laying flowers and lighting candles at makeshift memorials across the country. for all his violence and often foul-mouthed leadership, yevgeny prigozhin struck a chord, especially with people like daria in st. petersburg who told me how strong and interesting she found his personality. he always stood up for his fighters, she said, in the special military operation, what russia calls the conflict in ukraine. are you sad that he is gone? [ speaking in a non-english language ] they were so vile to him, she answers. it s a bitterness many russians
half ago, lev love came out and said, ridiculed the western press and said, the americans are being hysterical. we re not going to invade. we know what happened. this is the kind of lies that they tell. it s been 18 months since russia invaded ukraine. they still don t even call it a war. they don t call it a war. a special military operation. you can go to jail in russia for calling it a war. you re exactly right. you did mention how loyal prigozhin s followers are. we ve seen these memorials where people were coming and laying flowers. we ve seen people crying. even though the kremlin is denying it, do you think those followers are buying this? what is their response? what does it say to anyone in russia who may consider threatening putin s power to watch a plane of someone who threatened putin s power come crashing down in a ball of flames? which is exactly why my view is that putin ordered that done.
russian authorities said on friday the materials are being handed over for forensic and criminal investigation. the kremlin vehemently denied whether it was involved in the crash. they did not say if putin would attend the funeral. dmitry peskov said on friday there s uncertainty about the timeline for identification procedures. many ordinary russians have begun mourning the mercenary leader. matthew chance reports from petersburg. reporter: shocked in not surprised, supporters of russia s wagner mercenary leader have been paying their respects. laying flowers, and lighting candles at makeshift memorials across the country. for all his violent and foul-mouthed outbursts, often critical of russia s military leadership, yevgeny prigozhin
laying flowers and lighting candles at makeshift memorials across the country. for all his violent and foul-mouthed outbursts, often critical of russia s military leadership, yevgeny prigozhin struck a chord. especially with people like dara here in st. petersburg who told me how strong and interesting she found his personality. he always stood up for his fighters, she said, in the special military operation. what russia calls the conflict in ukraine. are you sad that he is gone? reporter: i m sad they were so vile to him. it was a bitterness many russians now share. it photograph here, i think one of the last ones of prigozhin. and it said in russian, in this hell, he was the best. speaking about him in the past