Putin presented a proposal for Prigozhin’s successor

With Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozchin gone, there is speculation about his successor. A recommendation comes from Vladimir Putin.

As a mercenary commander Wagner was nicknamed “Grey Hair”, Russian for “Sedoi”. He is on the European Union’s sanctions list and is said to be one of the most senior military personnel in Prigozhin’s forces. It has now become public that Andriy Trochev, his real name, also caught the eye of the Russian president. Putin is said to have proposed him as Prigozhin’s successor.

In a conversation with a journalist from the state-sponsored Russian news website Kommersant, Putin described the meeting, which was attended by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and several of his generals. The Russian president said officers of the mercenary group, led by a man with the call sign “Sedoy,” offered to continue their mission. According to Putin, he is said to be the man who allegedly led the Wagner mercenaries from the beginning of the Russian invasion. Read more about Putin’s interview and his comments about the Wagner group here.

Andriy Trochev is referred to as the “executive director (chief of staff)” of Wagner troops in an EU document on sanctions related to the war in Syria. According to the document, he is said to be one of the founders of the mercenary force. Trochev was born in 1953 in St. Petersburg — also Putin’s hometown. Wagner co-founder Dmitrij Utkin and generals Andrei Bogatov and Sergeevich Kuznetsov are offered as accomplices — both of whom are on the EU sanctions list because of their activities in Syria. According to the EU document, Trochev was directly involved in military operations in Syria and actively supported the regime in Damascus. He is also mentioned in British sanctions documents as managing director of the Wagner Group.

Trochev fought as a soldier in the Afghanistan War for the then Soviet Union. His last rank was colonel, the equivalent of a colonel in the German armed forces. According to a Reuters news agency report, he was twice awarded the “Order of the Red Star” for his efforts and was also awarded the title “Hero of Russia” for his participation in the storming of IS terrorists in Palmyra. A native of Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, he was photographed in the president’s company a few years ago.

According to the interview, Putin specifically recommended Trochev to the generals and recommended continuing under his leadership. “They could have all gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Putin said, “and nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who was their real commander.” According to Putin, several Wagner “commanders nodded. Apparently, Wagner boss didn’t like it. “After asking Prigozhin (…), Putin was quoted as saying, ‘No, the boys won’t accept such a decision,'”

Prigozhin has not been seen in public since leaving the occupied Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with his militia on June 24. A video emerged on Friday showing him sitting on a camp bed in his underwear – but the location and time of recording is unclear. According to earlier reports, he reportedly agreed with Putin to exile him to Belarus along with some of his fighters. The defense ministry there said on Friday that the team members were training Belarusian soldiers southeast of Minsk. Two people close to Wagner told Reuters that some of the mercenaries had been in Belarus since Tuesday.