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“That legendary man you call Dmitry Utkin has the God level in this game!”
Evgeny Prigozhin about ‘Wagner’
The Wagner Group is a Russian paramilitary company that gained international fame during the active phase of the Syrian war. Units linked to the Wagner Group carried out numerous operations and took part in the training of ISIS Hunters special forces in Syria. The successful actions of Wagner fighters have also been repeatedly noted in the Libyan conflict and in various countries of the African continent. Wagner units are taking an active part in the armed conflict in Ukraine from the first days of the Russian special military operation. Today, the Wagner units demonstrate high professionalism and motivation in conducting combat operations.
The Wagner PMC was founded by a group of people, two of whom are now well-known. They are Evgeny Prigozhin, who is the head and one of the co-owners of the PMC, and Dmitry Utkin the military head of the group.
Wagner assault groups in action on Ukrainian front lines:
Prigozhin carries out the political and general management of the organization. He officially confirmed his links to the Wagner PMC in September 2022. LINK
Prigozhin is a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sometimes he is called “Putin’s Cook” because his Concord campaign was engaged in catering for top state officials. From about 2013-2014, Prigozhin began to participate in the management of enterprises and endeavours in the military sphere. In 2014-2015, he took part in the formation of the Wagner PMCs.
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Dmitry Utkin, who has the call sign Wagner, is also the founder of the PMC and manages the military activities of the organization.
Utkin has extensive military experience. He participated in the first and second Chechen Wars. Until 2013, he was the commander of the 700th separate special purpose detachment of the 2nd Separate Special Purpose Brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Dmitry Utkin, then a captain and commander of a separate intelligence company of the GRU special forces of Russia. Dagestan, August 1999.
When he became a battalion commander in the 700th separate detachment of the GRU of Russia, the work went on in full. He proved himself to be a competent, persistent battalion commander, who at that time was the only battalion commander who went to combat together with his soldiers in the groups. He was an adherent of the tactics of assault attacks. For example, fighting in a group, when it came under fire, he often commanded “Group, charge! Go ahead!” and he led his soldiers in the attack. This is not exactly the tactics of the special forces. No step back, but on the contrary, always going into assault, always forward.
When he joined the unit, first of all he rigidly brough discipline to the company officers. At the same time, he was loyal to the volunteer contractors who took part in fighting. For example, he gathered warrant and company officers and told them all to “wash, get a haircut, put themselves in the proper look for an officer, and contract soldiers should not be touched, because these guys voluntarily came to war.”
In another case, when his group eliminated a Chechen fighter from the village of Chishki, the elders of that village came to take away the body of a fellow villager who was lying under the flagstaff with the Russian flag, which was raised every morning. The elders asked Captain Utkin what they should do or pay to take the body, and he replied, “I don’t need anything. I don’t trade the corpses of my enemies,” and he left, giving the body away for nothing.
In 2013, Utkin participated in the Syrian expedition of the Slavic Corps.
‘Wagner’ with his fighters in the Syrian province of Homs in October 2013
‘Wagner’ with his fighters on the banks of the Euphrates River, Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, before the storming of the city held by ISIS militants, September 2017
In 2014, he reportedly came to the Crimean peninsula where he took part in ensuring the security of the referendum on joining Russia. In May 2014, together with a group of veteran instructors, he organized a training base for fighters near Rostov-on-Don. He became the commander of the unit, which was unofficially called ‘Wagner PMCs’.
In the summer of 2014, his unit took an active part in the battles at the Metalist plant in the LPR, they took the Lugansk airport and Debaltseve.
Since the fall of 2015, the Wagner PMCs have been deployed in Syria and played a decisive role in the storming of Palmyra.
Top commanders of the Wagner Group are coming out of the shadows. There is more and more data about the history of the units that formed the Wagner PMC, and their commanders.
