In Prigozhin’s shadow, the Wagner Group leader who stays out of the spotlight
Global News
Yevgeniy Prigozhin is the financier and public face of the Wagner Group, but the operational leader is Dmitry Utkin.
Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s tirades on social media and his insurrection against Russian military leaders have made him the face of the Wagner Group.
But to get things done, he relies on Dmitry Utkin, the veteran military officer who oversees Wagner’s operations across the continents.
Prigozhin is an oligarch with political aspirations, but Utkin has the bio of a Soldier of Fortune cover boy: Russian special forces, both Chechen wars, and Syria.
“He’s in the background making the organization actually run,” said Prof. Dani Belo of Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. “Prigozhin can’t deliver the actual operational and tactical level stuff.”
Indeed, the European Union sanctions against the Wagner Group name Utkin as the actual leader, while Prigozhin is described simply as the financier.
Despite his central role in Wagner and command of its field operations, Utkin yields the spotlight to Prighozin — and for good reason.
With the face of a horror movie villain, Nazi SS tattoos on each shoulder and documented record of war crimes, he’s not exactly frontman material.
“He’s a terrible optic,” said Jason M. Blazakis, senior research fellow at The Soufan Center and the co-author of a recent report on Wagner.