Russia & Ukraine

Ukrainian Nat Guardsman (POW in Russia):

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terr said:
The founder of Wagner

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Dmitry Valerievich Utkin (Russian: Дмитрий Валерьевич Уткин; Ukrainian: Дмитро Валерійович Уткін; born 11 June 1970) is a Ukrainian-born Russian army officer. He served as a special forces officer in the GRU, where he held a rank of lieutenant colonel.[1] He is alleged to have founded the Wagner Group, with his own call-sign reportedly being Wagner.[2][3][4][5][6] Utkin has received four Orders of Courage of Russia.

Dmitry Utkin
Native name
Дмитрий Валерьевич Уткин (Russian)
Дмитро Валерійович Уткін (Ukrainian)
Birth name Dmitry Valerievich Utkin
Dmytro Valeriyovych Utkin
Born June 11, 1970 (age 52)
Smoline, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Allegiance
Service/branch GRU (1993–2013)
Rank Lieutenant colonel (1993–2013)
Commands held
  • 2nd Spetsnaz Brigade (1993–2013)
    • 700th Spetsnaz Detachment
    Wagner Group (2014–present)
Battles/wars
Awards Order of Courage (4)

Contents

Early life
Utkin was born on 11 June 1970 in the village of Smoline in Kirovohrad Oblast, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.[7][8] He was married to Elena Shcherbinina. The couple divorced in the early 2000s.[8]


Political views
Members of Wagner Group reported that Utkin is a Rodnover, a believer of Slavic native faith.[9] Utkin has been alleged by the Latvia-based Meduza to have sympathies with Nazi Germany, and believed by the British NationalWorld to be a neo-Nazi because of images that surfaced in 2021, described in The Times as "a man purported to be Utkin can be seen with tattoos of lightning bolts and a stylised eagle, symbols often associated with neo-Nazis" on his neck and chest.[10][11][12]

Utkin has not made any public appearances since 2016.[13]

Military career
Russia and Slavonic Corps
See also: Slavonic Corps
Utkin served as the commander of the 700th Separate Special Detachment of the 2nd Separate Special Brigade of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), stationed in Pechory, Pskov Oblast, until 2013.[14][15] After retiring, he joined the Slavonic Corps, fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war in 2013. He returned to Moscow in October 2013.[16]

Wagner Group
Main article: Wagner Group
Almost immediately after returning to Russia, Utkin reportedly created his own mercenary group. Utkin, who reportedly has a passion for the history of the Third Reich,[17] had the call-sign Wagner, allegedly in honour of Richard Wagner.[16][18] Utkin and his "Wagner Group", as well as several veterans of the Slavonic Corps were seen both in Crimea in February 2014 and then in Donbas, where they fought for the pro-Russian separatists during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[19] Gazeta.ru reports that Utkin and his men could have been involved in the killing of several field commanders of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.[20] Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reported that Utkin was possibly a figurehead for the company, while the real head of Wagner was someone else.[21]

Utkin was seen in the Kremlin during the celebration of Fatherland's Heroes Day on 9 December 2016. He attended the celebration as a laureate of four Orders of Courage,[22][23] and was photographed with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.[24] Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary for the Russian President, admitted that Utkin was among the invitees, but did not comment on his connection with the mercenaries.[16]

RBK reported that after completing a training in Krasnodar Krai, Utkin and his men returned to Syria in 2015.[25] Soon after the start of the Russian aerial strikes, reports emerged on the deaths of Russian mercenaries fighting on the ground. Several images spread in the social media apparently depicting armed Russian men killed during the Battle of Palmyra in March 2016.[19] Sky News reported that approximately 500 to 600 people, mostly Wagner mercenaries, were killed in Syria in 2016.[26]

Sanctions
In June 2017, the United States imposed sanctions against Utkin as the head of Wagner Group.[27] In November 2017, RBK reported the appointment of Utkin as the CEO of Concord Management and Consulting, the managing company of the restaurant holding owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin,[28] who is believed to be the financier of Wagner Group.[29] Bellingcat contends that this was a different Dmitry Utkin, however.[30]

In December 2021, the Council of the European Union imposed restrictive measures against Utkin and other individuals associated with the Wagner Group. In relation to Utkin, he was accused of being "responsible for serious human rights abuses committed by the group, which include torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings."[31][32]

He was sanctioned by the government of New Zealand in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine;[33] the government of the United Kingdom did the same as a result of the invasion.[34]

Wikipedia.
 
Russian Mercenary Leader Now Behind Troll Farm Mastermind’s Catering Business
Nov. 15, 2017

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Dmitry Utkin / Screenshot 1st Channel

The leader of an infamous Russian private military company is now reportedly the general director of a catering business owned by the mastermind behind the Kremlin’s troll farm.

Dmitry Utkin, a military intelligence reserve commander, leads the Wagner mercenary group, which is believed to have played key roles in the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts.

Businessman Dmitry Prigozhin is an investor in Wagner and the alleged head of the St. Petersburg-based firm known as the Kremlin's “troll factory.” He also owns the firms Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering — both under U.S. sanctions.

Prigozhin has recently denied ties to the troll factory, the Internet Research Agency.

After the name “Dmitry Valeryevich Utkin" appeared in a corporate database as the general director of Concord Management and Consulting, a source close to Prigozhin told the RBC business outlet RBC on Wednesday that it is the head of the military contractor.

The U.S. Treasury added Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering to its list of sanctioned companies in June after identifying Prigozhin as the “owner or controller” of both entities. The U.S. placed Prigozhin on its sanctions list in 2016.

U.S authorities suspect the business of being behind hundreds of fake Facebook and Twitter accounts that reached tens of millions of Americans during the 2016 election campaign that saw Donald Trump win the presidency.
 
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