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Prigozhin's right-hand man in Wagner is quietly buried near Moscow

Politiko 2023-08-31 14:27:01

Prigozhin's right-hand man in Wagner is quietly buried near Moscow

The co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Dmitry Utkin, was buried on August 31 near Moscow, after he died in the plane crash that also killed his boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Dmitry Utkin, 53, whose nickname "Wagner" gave his name to the mercenary army, was buried in Mytishchi, on the outskirts of Moscow, in a ceremony surrounded by Russian military police, according to the news website Shot.

Prigozhin was buried on August 29 in an equally quiet ceremony in his hometown of St. Petersburg that was in stark contrast to his boisterous social media persona.

Before helping to establish Wagner as Prigozhin's right-hand man, Utkin served as a special forces officer in the GRU military intelligence service, where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He campaigned for Wagner to support Moscow's military campaigns in Syria and Ukraine and was photographed in 2016 in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In late June, a source told the Reuters news agency that Utkin was the leader of an armed group of Wagner rebels who marched on Moscow to support Prigozhin's demand that Russia's military leadership resign over its failures in that which Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The short-lived rebellion presented the biggest challenge to Putin's power since he came to power in 1999, prompting the Russian president to accuse the perpetrators of the rebellion of "treason" and "backstabbing".

Utkin, Prigozhin and Wagner's head of logistics, Valery Chekalov, were among ten people who died when Prigozhin's Embraer Legacy 600 private jet crashed out of the sky north of Moscow on August 23.

Many of Putin's critics have died under unclear circumstances during his 23 years in power, or narrowly escaped death.

The Kremlin says all possible causes of the crash will be investigated, but has dismissed as an "absolute lie" the suggestion that Putin ordered the death of Prigozhin and his men.

After an agreement had ended the uprising, Utkin had said in a speech to Wagner's fighters: “This is not the end. This is just the beginning of the greatest work in the world that will be done very soon," adding in English: "And welcome to hell!"./ REL

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