Since the Wagner group’s march on Moscow in June – and the death of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in August – the question of who actually leads the mercenaries has been up in the air.
The unit has been a ruthless force in Putin’s war against Ukraine. They captured the disputed city of Bachmut and lost many soldiers there. Since the second-in-command and co-founder of Wagner, Dimitri Utkin, also died in the plane crash, a power vacuum has arisen.
Putin tightens grip on “Grayhair”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Troshev is seen as an attempt to consolidate his authority after the Wagner Group rebellion, reports BBC. Andrei “Grayhair” Troshev’s official assignment from Putin is to lead the volunteer soldiers in Ukraine.
But the Wagner group’s official Telegram channel shows that Troshev’s influence over Wagner has limits.
– In the media, you could read that Gråhår was chief of staff until the end. That’s not true. “Grayhair” was not a commander of the “musicians” after the March for Freedom, it says.
In the terminology of the Wagner Group, the soldiers are musicians and the units are orchestras.
Will play by own rules
Putin has also called on the Wagner mercenaries and other contract soldiers to swear an oath to the Russian state.
It doesn’t seem to have had a big impact on the Wagner soldiers either. On Telegram they further write:
“Be sure – the orchestra has played, and will play, by its own rules.”
Wagner’s Telegram channel has roughly 290,000 followers and served as a communication channel to reach out with the mercenaries’ message. It is unclear who is behind the posts on the channel.