On June 23, PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin took his conflict with the Defense Ministry to a new level by announcing a “march of justice” against Moscow. A day later, Prigozhin agreed to stop the campaign after negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. By data According to a Reuters source close to the DPR leadership, the longtime commander of a private military company, Dmitry Utkin, led the convoy of Wagner fighters en route to Moscow. What is known about him and other PMC leaders – in Russian media material.
Dmitry Utkin, Wagner
Dmitry Valeryevich Utkin was born on June 11, 1970 in the Sverdlovsk region. As a child, he lived with his mother in Ukraine, went to school in the village of Smolino, Kirovograd region. After school, Utkin entered a military school in Leningrad. The Dossier Center, which published an investigation of Utkin in April 2023, suggested that he graduated from the Higher Combined Arms Command School named after SM Kirov, since only this educational institution in Leningrad trained officers for the GRU special forces.
Until 2013, Utkin was the commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate GRU special forces brigade stationed in the Pskov region. The detachment participated in two Chechen wars.
After transferring to the reserves with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Utkin joined the Moran Security Group (MSG), which was engaged in the security services. In 2013, he left for Syria within the Slavic Corps group, organized by the managers of the MSG. The fighters were reportedly recruited to guard Syrian energy facilities. In reality, they found themselves under the command of a field commander who fought President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and were ambushed by Islamic State* militants. After returning to Russia, the organizers of the Slavic Corps, Vadim Gusev and Yevgeny Sidorov, were sentenced to three years in prison for mercenary charges, the fighters themselves were not brought to justice.
After an unsuccessful trip to Syria, Utkin took the call sign “Wagner” in honor of the German composer Richard Wagner and became the commander of the unit named after that call sign. How writing Fontanka, quoting his colleagues, Utkin “shot German-themed and imagined himself an Aryan”.
In December 2016, journalists from the publication REMARK Utkin on video footage of a reception in the Kremlin on Heroes of the Fatherland Day. More than 300 military and civilians were invited to the event, “who showed particular courage and heroism”. Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Utkin was present at the reception as a holder of the Order of Courage, but noted that he did not know “how he is known”. Also “Fontanka” published photograph of Utkin and other Wagner Group fighters with President Vladimir Putin.
After Utkin came to the attention of the media at a Kremlin reception, details of his personal life came to light. Gazeta.ru discovered that the former military man at that time had been looking for his wife Elena Shcherbinina for two years, including through the program of the first channel “Wait for me”.
“He is by nature a warrior and a military officer. <…> He adapted very hard (to the peaceful life after Chechnya). And he was terribly worried about not fighting. He wanted a military career – a career as a combat officer, not wiping his pants at headquarters,” the woman said.
In 2017, the full namesake of Dmitry Utkin became general director of the restaurant management company holding Yevgeny Prigozhin “Concord Management and Consulting”, but remained in this position for less than a year.
At the beginning of June 2023, Utkin remained the commander of the Wagner PMC. This stems from his comment about the conflict between Prigozhin and the Chechen security forces because of the words of the PMC founder about the Ahmad special forces.
Utkin is subject to US, EU, UK, Swiss, Canadian, Japanese, Australian and New Zealand sanctions. In Ukraine, criminal proceedings were initiated against the commander of the Wagnerians for undermining the territorial integrity of the country due to his participation in the hostilities in the Donbass in 2014-2015.
Mikhail Mizintsev
Mikhail Mizintsev began his military career as the commander of a reconnaissance platoon and a reconnaissance company of a tank regiment of a group of Soviet troops in Germany. His gradual rise through the ranks led to his appointment as Deputy Defense Minister in September 2022. In this post, Mizintsev was responsible for the logistics of Russian troops, but did not even last a year.
In April 2023, pro-military telegram channels reported that Mizintsev had been fired. The Defense Ministry did not directly confirm the Colonel General’s dismissal, but did report on the appointment of Deputy Director of the Russian Guard Alexei Kuzmenkov to his post. Yevgeny Prigozhin’s press service reported that Mizintsev was offered to become the first deputy commander of Wagner PMC Dmitry Utkin.
Later, in one of his video messages, Prigozhin praised Mizintsev for his approach to ammunition and weapons, calling him a “rare man”. According to the founder of Wagner, the Colonel General commissioned the repair of the necessary types of weapons, and also transferred ammunition to Wagnerians and other units. Prigozhin claimed that Mizintsev would have been fired for this.
Hero of Russia Major General Sergei Lipovoy suggested that Mizintsev’s resignation could be related to “failure to fulfill assigned tasks”.
In May, reporting on the complete capture of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) (Bakhmut), Prigozhin thanked Mizintsev for “the opportunity to carry out this difficult operation”.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the Colonel General was placed on the sanctions lists of the European Union, Great Britain and Ukraine, where he is considered “the leader of the siege and bombardment of Mariupol”. Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand have also imposed sanctions on it.
Andrey Troshev, “Gray”
Mizintsev is at least the second senior officer whose participation in the Wagner PMC has been reported in the media. Fontanka called The group’s “executive director” is Andrey Troshev with the call sign “Seda”, a retired colonel, a former member of the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) and OMON of the Northern Federal District- west of the Russian Interior Ministry, a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
Troshev, along with Utkin, was among those invited to a reception at the Kremlin in December 2016. In footage from the ceremonial shoot, the Hero of Russia star is visible on Troshev’s jacket, but there is no decree Presidential on its price in the public domain.
Project “Heroes of the country” complaints that Troshev was awarded the highest rank by a “closed” decree of the President of Russia dated March 17, 2016 “for courage and heroism shown in the execution of a special mission”. Fontanka wrote that Troshev received an award “for capturing Palmyra in 2016”.
In the SPARK database, Troshev is listed as chairman of the board of the League for the Protection of the Interests of Veterans of Local Wars and Military Conflicts, based in St. Petersburg. According to the Dossier, he is part of the “special department” of Wagner PMC’s security service, which is responsible for “maintaining secrecy, personnel security, finances and information.”
“Its employees screen applicants for service, control how funds are spent, monitor discipline, and try to prevent unauthorized release of information,” the project writes.
Troshev’s signature appears on numerous documents distributed by Prigozhin’s press service. In particular, in his name, since April 2023, calls have been circulating in the regions of Russia for Russians to join the ranks of the Wagnerians as volunteers. On June 23, Troshev confirmed the release of such announcements by Prigozhin’s press service.
Troshev is on the EU and UK sanctions lists.
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
