Dmitry Utkin

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.

This article is about the Russian military officer. For the ice hockey player, see Dmitri Utkin.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Valerievich and the family name is Utkin.
Dmitry Utkin
Native name
Дмитрий Валерьевич Уткин (Russian)
Дмитро Валерійович Уткін (Ukrainian)
Birth nameDmitry Valerievich Utkin
Dmytro Valeriyovych Utkin
Born (1970-06-11) 11 June 1970
Smoline, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Allegiance
Service/branch GRU (1993–2013)
RankLieutenant colonel (1993–2013)
Commands held
  • 2nd Spetsnaz Brigade (1993–2013)
    • 700th Spetsnaz Detachment
    Wagner Group (2014–present)
Battles/wars
AwardsOrder of Courage (4)

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]

References
  1. Dettmer, Jamie (7 December 2020). "Mercenary Says Kremlin's Wagner Group Recruiting Inexperienced Fighters". Voice of America. 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. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  3. "Wagner, shadowy Russian military group, 'fighting in Libya'". BBC (in Russian). 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  4. Rabin, Alexander (4 October 2019). "Diplomacy and Dividends: Who Really Controls the Wagner Grup". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  5. Rondeaux, Candace (7 November 2019). "Tracing Wagner's Roots". New America. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  6. Rondeaux, Candace (7 November 2019). "Forward Operations: From Deir Ezzor to Donbas and Back Again". New America. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  7. Romaliyskaya, Irina. "Що дядя Вова скаже, те Діма і зробить". Український слід у долі таємничого ватажка "ПВК Вагнера". Цензор.нет (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  8. Zubov, Gennady; Petelin, German. "WSJ: США пригрозили санкциями российскому союзнику в Ливии Хафтару за захват нефтяных месторождений бойцами "ЧВК Вагнера"". Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  9. 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. Members of this organization say that one of its leaders, D. Utkin (call sign Wagner), is a rodnover, native faith believer
  10. Tunis, Samer al-Atrush. "Russia's Wagner mercenaries calls the shots in fight for control of Libya". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  11. "Путин принимал в Кремле командира российских наемников. Что о нем известно?". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  12. "The secretive Russian mercenaries 'ordered to kill' Ukraine's president". www.nationalworld.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  13. Mackinnon, Amy (6 July 2021). "Russia's Wagner Group Doesn't Actually Exist". Foreign Policy.
  14. "Они сражались за Пальмиру". Fontanka.ru (in Russian). 28 March 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  15. ""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. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  16. "Путин принимал в Кремле командира российских наемников. Что о нем известно?". Meduza.io (in Russian). 15 December 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  17. Bogushevsky, Rostislav; Yushkov, Ilya (19 December 2018). "Вагнеру создали двойника". Daily Storm (in Russian). Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  18. Ibrahim, Nader; Barabanov, Ilya. "The lost tablet and the secret documents". BBC News. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  19. ""Славянский корпус" возвращается в Сирию". Fontanka.ru (in Russian). 16 October 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  20. Dergachev, Vladimir; Zgirovskaya, Ekaterina (24 March 2016). "Российские наемники в боях за Пальмиру". Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  21. "Wagner, Russian Blackwater in Syria". Yeni Şafak. 6 August 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  22. ""Фонтанка" насчитала у командира российских наемников Вагнера четыре ордена Мужества". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  23. дня, Фото. "Фото дня: Дмитрий Уткин, которого называют командиром российских наемников в Сирии, и Владимир Путин". Эхо Москвы (in Russian). Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  24. "Песков подтвердил присутствие командира ЧВК Вагнера на приеме в Кремле". ТАСС. 15 December 2016.
  25. "Призраки войны: как в Сирии появилась российская частная армия". RBK (in Russian). 25 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  26. Sparks, John (10 August 2016). "Revealed: Russia's 'Secret Syria Mercenaries'". Sky News. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  27. "США ввели санкции против ЧВК "Вагнер"". RIA Novosti (in Russian). 20 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  28. "Командир ЧВК Вагнера возглавил ресторанный бизнес Пригожина" (in Russian). 15 November 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  29. Ljubas, Zdravko (16 March 2021). "Paramilitary Group Wagner Sued in Russia for War Crimes in Syria". Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  30. "Putin Chef's Kisses of Death: Russia's Shadow Army's State-Run Structure Exposed". bellingcat. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  31. "EU slaps sanctions on Russian mercenary group Wagner". POLITICO. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  32. "EUR-Lex - 32021R2195 - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  33. "Russia Sanctions Regulations 2022". Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  34. "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
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