putin finds new commander for Wagner mercenaries – CNN
The kremlin is pushing Prigozhin away from the PMC he created
russian dictator vladimir putin has proposed to the mercenaries of the Wagner PMC that one of their senior fighters, Andrei Troshev, should now command a private military group.
Source. CNN writes about this with reference to russian media and its own investigations.
It appears that putin has created a split between the senior mercenary group's fighters and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose whereabouts are currently unknown to the public. russian media reported on a meeting held by the russian president five days after the Wagner mutiny attempt in late June, which was also attended by Prigozhin and several dozen senior PMC fighters.
Answering questions from Kommersant, putin said that Wagner "does not legally exist" under russian law, adding that the russian government should determine what to do with the organization next.
According to the newspaper, putin outlined a number of options for the future of Wagner's mercenaries, including continuing to fight under their direct commander, a man with the call sign Sedoy.
According to the sanctions documents published by the EU and France, Sedoy is the call sign of Andrei Troshev, a retired russian colonel, founding member and executive director of the Wagner PMC. He is also subject to Ukrainian sanctions.
Troshev was the PMC's chief of staff during its previous operations in Syria, under EU sanctions since December 2021.
"Troshev makes a decisive contribution to the military efforts of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad and therefore supports and benefits from the Syrian regime," the documents say.
"He was particularly involved in the Deir ez-Zor area," the sanctions documents say. In this city, Wagner fighters had direct clashes with the US military during the Syrian civil war.
He is also on the UK sanctions list as the head of a private military group that "carried out repression against the civilian population in Syria."
According to the EU sanctions, Troshev is linked to the senior management of the Wagner Group, including founder Dmitry Utkin, a former officer in russia's GRU military intelligence service.
Sedoy is a veteran of the wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan, for which he was awarded several medals, according to russian media.
He has also been spotted at receptions in the kremlin and in joint photos with putin.
Background. As a reminder, putin deprived Gerasimov of the authority to lead the occupation forces in Ukraine.
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