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Dmitry Utkin

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This article is about the Russian military officer. For the ice hockey player, see Dmitri Utkin.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Valerievich and the family name is Utkin.

Dmitry Utkin
Utkin's passport photo
Native name
Дмитрий Валерьевич Уткин
Birth nameDmitry Valerievich Utkin
Born(1970-06-11)11 June 1970
Asbest, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died23 August 2023(2023-08-23) (aged 53)
Kuzhenkino, Bologovsky District, Tver Oblast, Russia
Cause of deathAirplane crash
Allegiance
Service / branchGRU (1993–2013)
RankLieutenant colonel (1993–2013)
Commands
Battles / wars
AwardsOrder of Courage (4)

Dmitry Valerievich Utkin (Russian: Дмитрий Валерьевич Уткин) (11 June 1970 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian military officer and mercenary. He served as a special forces officer in the GRU, where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.[1] He was the co-founder and military commander of the Russian state-funded Wagner Group, with his military alias reportedly being Wagner.[2][3][4][5][6] Utkin was a neo-Nazi. He rarely made public appearances, but was allegedly the commander of the private military company, while Yevgeny Prigozhin was its owner and public face.[7] Utkin was awarded four Orders of Courage of Russia.

Utkin was killed on 23 August 2023 when a plane carrying him, Prigozhin and eight others crashed in Tver Oblast, leaving no survivors.[8][9]

Early life and education

Dmitry Valerievich Utkin was born on 11 June 1970 in Asbest, a village in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, Soviet Union.[10] His mother, a civil engineer, divorced Utkin's father when Utkin was very young.[10]

During his early childhood, Utkin and his mother relocated to the village of Smoline in Kirovohrad Oblast in Soviet Ukraine, where he was raised.[10][11] He was described by classmates as very studious, but arrogant.[11] He fathered two children in Smoline.[11]

After graduating from high school in Smoline, Utkin moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) where he entered the S. M. Kirov Higher Combined Arms Command School and later joined the GRU Special Forces.[10]

In the 1990s, he married Elena Shcherbinina, with whom he had three children. They divorced in the early 2000s.[11][12] In 2015, Shcherbinina reported Utkin as missing on a television program.[10]

Political and racial views

According to several news outlets, Utkin was an admirer of Nazi Germany and had multiple Nazi tattoos, including Schutzstaffel (SS) insignia.[13][14][15][16][17] Utkin also reportedly used call sign Wagner after German composer Richard Wagner, because his work was greatly admired by Adolf Hitler and was appropriated by the Nazis.[3][18][19] Allegedly he greeted subordinates by saying "Heil!", wore a Wehrmacht field cap around Wagner training grounds, and sometimes signed his name with the lightning bolt insignia of the SS.[20]

Members of the Wagner Group have said that Utkin was a Rodnover, a believer in the Slavic native faith.[21]

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 Russian GRU military intelligence service, stationed in Pechory, Pskov Oblast, until 2013.[22][23]

After leaving the military, in 2013 Utkin began working for the Moran Security Group, a private company founded by Russian military veterans, which was involved in security and training missions worldwide, and specializes in security against piracy. The same year, senior Moran Security Group managers were involved in setting up the Hong Kong-based Slavonic Corps,[24] which headhunted contractors to "protect oil fields and pipelines" in Syria during its civil war.[25] Utkin was deployed in Syria as a member of the Slavonic Corps, surviving its disastrous mission.[26]

Utkin returned to Moscow in October 2013.[19] Russia's Federal Security Service in November 2013 arrested some members of the Slavonic Corps for illegal mercenary activity.[27]

Wagner Group

Main article: Wagner Group

Almost immediately after returning to Russia, Utkin reportedly created his own mercenary group. The group's name, the Wagner Group, is a reference to the call-sign Utkin was using at the time, "Wagner", which is itself a reference to German composer Richard Wagner (see political and racial views).[3] Utkin and the Wagner Group, as well as several veterans of the Slavonic Corps, were seen in Crimea in February 2014 and then in Donbas, where they fought for the pro-Russian separatists during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[28] Gazeta.ru reported that Utkin and his men could have been involved in the killing of several field commanders of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.[29] Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reported that Utkin was possibly a figurehead for the company, while the real head of Wagner was someone else.[30]

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,[31][32] and was photographed with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.[33] 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.[19] This was reportedly Utkin's last public appearance.[34]

RBK reported that after completing training in Krasnodar Krai, Utkin and his men returned to Syria in 2015.[35] Soon after the start of Russian aerial strikes in Syria, reports emerged of the deaths of Russian mercenaries fighting on the ground. Several images spread in social media apparently depicting armed Russian men killed during the Battle of Palmyra in March 2016.[28] Sky News reported that approximately 500 to 600 people, mostly Wagner mercenaries, were killed in Syria in 2016.[36] In June 2017, Utkin ordered that a Syrian deserter be tortured and bludgeoned to death on camera.[37]

The Wagner Group had an important role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By this time, it was reported that Utkin was Wagner's behind-the-scenes military commander, responsible for overseeing its military operations, while Prigozhin was its owner, financier and public face.[7] The group were the backbone of the Russian forces in the Battle of Bakhmut. Prigozhin began openly criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry for mishandling the war against Ukraine. On 23 June 2023, Prigozhin led the Wagner Group in a rebellion after accusing the Defense Ministry of shelling Wagner soldiers. Wagner units seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, while a Wagner convoy headed towards Moscow. Utkin's role in the Wagner mutiny is unknown, though there were reports he was in a tank leading the Wagner convoy towards Moscow.[7] The mutiny was halted the next day when an agreement was reached: Wagner mutineers would not be prosecuted if they chose to either sign contracts with the Defense Ministry or move to Belarus.[38]

Sanctions

In June 2017, the United States imposed sanctions against Utkin as the head of Wagner Group.[39] 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,[40] who is believed to have been the financier of Wagner Group.[41] Bellingcat said that this was a different Dmitry Utkin, however.[42]

In December 2021, the Council of the European Union imposed restrictive measures against Utkin and others associated with the Wagner Group. Utkin 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."[43][44]

Utkin was sanctioned by the governments of New Zealand[45] and the United Kingdom in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[46]

Makeshift memorial to Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin in Moscow

Death

Main article: 2023 Wagner Group plane crash

Utkin died in a plane crash on 23 August 2023 which also killed nine other people, including Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.[47][48] Utkin was buried on 31 August at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery in Moscow Oblast.[49][50]

Memorials

In April 2024, a monument depicting Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin was unveiled outside the Wagner Group's chapel in Goryachy Klyuch, Krasnodar Krai, which also contains the largest cemetery for Wagner mercenaries. The municipal government said that the monument was built on private property and did not require authorization from their side.[51]

References

  1. ^ Dettmer, Jamie (7 December 2020). "Mercenary Says Kremlin's Wagner Group Recruiting Inexperienced Fighters". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  2. ^ Sukhankin, Sergey (18 December 2019). "Russian PMCs in the Syrian Civil War: From Slavonic Corps to Wagner Group and Beyond". Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Wagner, shadowy Russian military group, 'fighting in Libya'". BBC News Russian (in Russian). 7 May 2020. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022.
  4. ^ Rabin, Alexander (4 October 2019). "Diplomacy and Dividends: Who Really Controls the Wagner Group". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  5. ^ Rondeaux, Candace (7 November 2019). "Tracing Wagner's Roots". New America. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  6. ^ Rondeaux, Candace (7 November 2019). "Forward Operations: From Deir Ezzor to Donbas and Back Again". New America. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "In Prigozhin's shadow, the Wagner Group leader who stays out of the spotlight". Global News. 29 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Prigozhin confirmed dead after genetic tests – Moscow". BBC. 27 August 2023. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  9. ^ Méheut, Constant (27 August 2023). "Russia Officially Confirms Prigozhin's Death". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d e Коротков, Денис. ""Хайль Петрович"". Центр «Досье» (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d Romaliyskaya, Irina (25 January 2017). "Що дядя Вова скаже, те Діма і зробить". Український слід у долі таємничого ватажка "ПВК Вагнера". Цензор.нет (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  12. ^ Zubov, Gennady; Petelin, German (16 December 2016). "WSJ: США пригрозили санкциями российскому союзнику в Ливии Хафтару за захват нефтяных месторождений бойцами "ЧВК Вагнера"". Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
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  15. ^ Tunis, Samer al-Atrush. "Russia's Wagner mercenaries calls the shots in fight for control of Libya". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022.
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  17. ^ "Путин принимал в Кремле командира российских наемников. Что о нем известно?". Meduza (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 June 2022.
  18. ^ Ibrahim, Nader; Barabanov, Ilya. "The lost tablet and the secret documents". BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022.
  19. ^ a b c "Путин принимал в Кремле командира российских наемников. Что о нем известно?". Meduza (in Russian). 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022.
  20. ^ Yaffa, Joshua (31 July 2023). "Inside the Wagner Group's Armed Uprising". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023.
  21. ^ Cornelio, J.; Gauthier, F.; Martikainen, T.; Woodhead, L. (2020). Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. Routledge International Handbooks. Taylor & Francis. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-317-29500-6. Archived from the original on 23 August 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2022. Members of this organization say that one of its leaders, D. Utkin (call sign Wagner), is a rodnover, native faith believer
  22. ^ "Они сражались за Пальмиру". Fontanka.ru (in Russian). 28 March 2016. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  23. ^ ""Фонтанка» нашла двух российских наемников, подозреваемых в убийстве дезертира в Сирии. Один из них служил в спецназе с главой ЧВК «Вагнер"". Meduza (in Russian). 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  24. ^ "Last battle of the Slavic Corps". Fontanka. 14 November 2013. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  25. ^ Gostev, Aleksandr; Coalson, Robert (16 December 2016). "Russia's Paramilitary Mercenaries Emerge From The Shadows". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  26. ^ Vaux, Pierre (29 March 2016). "Fontanka Investigates Russian Mercenaries Dying For Putin In Syria And Ukraine". The Interpreter. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  27. ^ Weiss, Michael (21 November 2013). "The Case of the Keystone Cossacks". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  28. ^ a b ""Славянский корпус" возвращается в Сирию". Fontanka.ru (in Russian). 16 October 2015. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  29. ^ Dergachev, Vladimir; Zgirovskaya, Ekaterina (24 March 2016). "Российские наемники в боях за Пальмиру". Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  30. ^ "Wagner, Russian Blackwater in Syria". Yeni Şafak. 6 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  31. ^ ""Фонтанка" насчитала у командира российских наемников Вагнера четыре ордена Мужества". Meduza (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  32. ^ дня, Фото. "Фото дня: Дмитрий Уткин, которого называют командиром российских наемников в Сирии, и Владимир Путин". Эхо Москвы (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  33. ^ "Песков подтвердил присутствие командира ЧВК Вагнера на приеме в Кремле". ТАСС. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  34. ^ Mackinnon, Amy (6 July 2021). "Russia's Wagner Group Doesn't Actually Exist". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  35. ^ "Призраки войны: как в Сирии появилась российская частная армия". RBK (in Russian). 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  36. ^ Sparks, John (10 August 2016). "Revealed: Russia's 'Secret Syria Mercenaries'". Sky News. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  37. ^ Regulation (EU) No 2021/2195 of 13 December 2021 implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses
  38. ^ Roth, Andrew; Sauer, Pjotr (25 June 2023). "Wagner boss to leave Russia as reports say US spy agencies picked up signs of planned uprising days ago". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  39. ^ "США ввели санкции против ЧВК "Вагнер"". RIA Novosti (in Russian). 20 June 2017. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  40. ^ "Командир ЧВК Вагнера возглавил ресторанный бизнес Пригожина" (in Russian). 15 November 2017. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  41. ^ Ljubas, Zdravko (16 March 2021). "Paramilitary Group Wagner Sued in Russia for War Crimes in Syria". Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  42. ^ "Putin Chef's Kisses of Death: Russia's Shadow Army's State-Run Structure Exposed". bellingcat. 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  43. ^ "EU slaps sanctions on Russian mercenary group Wagner". POLITICO. 13 December 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  44. ^ "EUR-Lex – 32021R2195 – EN – EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  45. ^ "Russia Sanctions Regulations 2022". New Zealand Legislation. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  46. ^ "Consolidated list of financial sanctions targets in the UK" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  47. ^ "СК заявил о подтверждении личностей всех погибших при крушении самолета Пригожина". forbes.ru (in Russian). 27 August 2023. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  48. ^ "WAGNER GROUP ®". Telegram. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  49. ^ "Командир ЧВК Вагнера Дмитрий Уткин (он же Вагнер) похоронен на мемориальном кладбище в Мытищах". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  50. ^ "В Мытищах похоронили командира ЧВК "Вагнер" Дмитрия Уткина". Север.Реалии (in Russian). 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  51. ^ "Prigozhin Monument Unveiled in Southern Russia's Krasnodar Region". The Moscow Times. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
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