Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with Wagner group commanders five days after the uprising, proposed that mercenaries “continue to serve” under a leader other than Yevgeny Prigozhin. This one will have refused on behalf of everyone. The man Putin sought was one of the more experienced commanders known as “Sedoi” – also spelled “Siedoy” or “Seedoy”, meaning “gray hair” or “grey hair”. But who is he?
According to Reuters, which is Andrei Troshev’s nom de guerre. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) like Putin, there are doubts about his age. Russian sources say he was born on April 5, 1962, according to the news agency, but Western sanctions lists (in which he appears) appear as born on the same day, but in 1953.
After fighting in the Afghan war (1979-1989) – true For his merits, he was twice awarded the Order of the Red Star. – served in the Second Chechen War, in the North Caucasus, then was a commander in the Special Rapid Response Unit of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2016, he received Russia’s highest award, the Hero of Russia Medal, for the invasion of Palmyra, Syria, then occupied by the Islamic State.
In 2021, he was subject to European sanctions for his “direct involvement in the military operations” of the Wagner Group in Syria. The European Union subsequently identified him as “executive director (chief of staff) of the Wagner Group” and one of the founders of the private military company, along with Prigozhin. “He was particularly involved in the Deir al-Zor area. As such, he is a crucial contributor to (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad’s war effort and therefore supports and benefits from the Syrian regime,” they added please.
It was Putin himself who, in a conversation with a journalist from the Compelling , spoke in “Sedoi”. The Russian newspaper questioned Putin about the meeting the president had in the Kremlin with Prigozhin and other commanders of the Wagner group, five days after the brief uprising on June 24, which was broken down when the group’s mercenaries were already 200 kilometers from Moscow. found. The Russian president confirmed that 35 people attended the rally and that he offered several options for the group’s fighters to leave.
One way out was that they would be placed under the command of “Sedoi”, who Putin said was the man they had served under for the past 16 months. “They could gather in one place and continue to serve,” the president said, quoted by the newspaper. “And nothing would have changed for them. They would be led by the same person who has been their true commander all along,” he added.
According to Putin, many attendees nodded affirmatively to this proposal. “And Prigozhin, sitting in the front and not seeing this, after hearing said: “No, men do not agree with this decision”said the chairman.
The uprising was stopped after an agreement was negotiated with the support of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to which charges against Prigozhin and his mercenaries would be dropped and they would be allowed to go to Belarus. However, the leader of the Wagner Group has been coming and going from Russia, according to Lukashenko, and his current whereabouts are unknown. His men will train the Belarusian army, as announced yesterday by the government of Minsk.
The Pentagon says mercenaries no longer “significantly” participate in fighting in Ukraine. Still, according to spokesman General Pat Ryder, the “majority” of the fighters remain in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
In conversation with Compelling, Putin reminded that the Wagner group does not exist legally – “we have no law on private military organizations”, so “it does not exist”. The lack of official status has allowed the group to have an ambiguous relationship with the Kremlin, but the insurgency can command more scrutiny through legal status. “This is a question that needs to be studied, explored in a deeper way,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, clarifying Putin’s words.
Source: DN
