Date profile information last updated: 6 October 2023

Andrey Troshev, the “grey” bureaucrat tasked with managing the new Wagner

Andrey Troshev is a senior figure in Russian PMC Wagner. He oversees units in Ukraine but may struggle to command the loyalty of fighters.

Andrey Troshev (“Sedoy”, meaning grey) is a former executive director of the Russian private military company (PMC) the Wagner Group who has been tasked by Russian President Vladimir Putin with overseeing “volunteer units” in Ukraine. He split with late Wagner owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin in the aftermath of the latter’s attempted ‘coup’ on 23-24 June 2023. He will coordinate closely with the Russian Ministry of Defence, but there are doubts over his ability to command the respect of Wagner fighters – and over how much of the old Wagner he will actually be responsible for.

Overview

• Putin tasks Wagner leader Troshev with overseeing ‘volunteer units’ in Ukraine
• Troshev’s challenges: Can he control Wagner and, if so, how much of it?
• Troshev’s key relationships, inside and outside Wagner
• Troshev’s biography: The road to Wagner
• Controversies and incidents: Wagner leader Troshev drunk in St Petersburg
• Digital Troshev: A Wagner leader with a limited online presence
• International response: Wagner leader Troshev on the sanctions list
• Sources

Putin tasks Wagner leader Troshev with overseeing ‘volunteer units’ in Ukraine

In the aftermath of the 23-24 June ‘coup attempt’ – which saw Prigozhin lead Wagner fighters on a march across Russia (Threatologist, 2023) – Putin met with 35 Wagner commanders in the Kremlin on 29 June. According to Andrey Kolesnikov, correspondent for business daily Kommersant, Putin offered participants in the meeting “several variants for future employment, including under the leadership of their immediate commander with the call sign Sedoy. That is, under the leadership that Wagner fighters have served for the last 16 months.” Kolesnikov directly quoted Putin as describing Troshev as “their real commander all this time” (Kommersant, 2023).

Troshev meets Putin, Yevkurov in Kremlin

On 28 September, Putin – this time accompanied by Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov – again met with Troshev in the Kremlin. Referencing the June meeting, Putin said that he had tasked Troshev with overseeing “volunteer units” operating in Ukraine (President of Russia, 2023). Russian and international media reported widely on the meeting, viewing it as part of a move by Putin “to reassert his authority” over the Wagner Group following the June events and Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash on 23 August (BBC News, 2023). Troshev becomes the means by which he achieves this goal, acting as the de facto new leader of Wagner – in Ukraine, at least. At the same time, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitriy Peskov confirmed that Troshev is now an employee of the Defence Ministry, although he did not provide further details on his role (Kommersant, 2023). As such, Troshev enjoys less formal independence than Prigozhin and now appears to formally answer to Yevkurov.

Troshev’s challenges: Can he control Wagner and, if so, how much of it?

There are two main questions surrounding Troshev’s new role: Whether he can command the loyalty of Wagner fighters, and whether he will attempt to assert control over Wagner’s operations beyond Ukraine. The second question forms part of a much broader question as to whether the post-coup, post-Prigozhin Wagner is really the same actor.

Troshev’s loyalty challenge

On the first question, a prominent Wagner commander and pro-Wagner Telegram channels have criticised Troshev for his apparent decision not to back the ‘coup attempt’ and instead side with the Defence Ministry. Anton Yelizarov (Lotos), a member of Wagner’s Council of Commanders, described Troshev as “an old-aged staff officer” who was “never a commander” or a member of the Council. He argued that Troshev was the only person to leave Wagner after the ‘coup attempt,’ characterising rumours that the majority of Wagner commanders had joined him as “just a dream of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation” (Telegram, 2023). The Grey Zone channel likewise asserted that Troshev was not a member of the Council and said he had been engaged in “staff duties that were not linked to planning military operations.” Grey Zone also accused Troshev of providing information on Wagner to the investigative outlet Dossier Center, funded by Mikhail Khodorkovskiy (Telegram, 2023). The VChK-OGPU channel claimed that Prigozhin considered him a “traitor” for his position (Telegram, 2023), and Putin himself indicated that Prigozhin opposed his proposal at the 29 June meeting (Kommersant, 2023). On the other hand, Valeriy Retunskiy, a retired senior military officer, opined in an interview with the Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper that Troshev’s experience in Wagner’s headquarters should not be downplayed, as it would give him a unique understanding of how Wagner operates (Moskovskiy Komsomolets, 2023).

Will Troshev’s control extend beyond Ukraine?

On the second question, Telegram channel Rybar, run by Mikhail Zvinchuk, claimed that Wagner fighters have already started to return to the front lines in Bakhmut under Troshev’s command. It also claimed that Troshev is “continuing to agitate among fighters of the PMC who are in action on the Belarussian and African-Middle Eastern fronts.” However, it reported that Lotus retains control of most of Wagner’s fighters, and that they might seek to sign contracts with Rosgvardia instead of the Defence Ministry (Telegram, 2023). Investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta opined that it was unlikely that the Kremlin would view Troshev as a candidate to take over Wagner’s operations abroad, but did not elaborate further (Novaya Gazeta, 2023). It is worth noting that Troshev’s relationship with the Defence Ministry has not always been without friction: The Kepka Prigozhina Telegram channel cited him as disputing the ministry’s claim to have helped capture Soledar, which he characterised as the exclusive achievement of Wagner (Fontanka.ru, 2023).

The broader question of Wagner’s future

The broader issue of whether the Wagner Group remains the same entity after Prigozhin’s death largely falls outside the scope of this profile. Nevertheless, Pavel Aksenov, military correspondent for the BBC’s Russian Service, argued that Troshev’s “personal ties with the state leadership, his ‘administrative weight’” will allow Troshev to counterbalance the mainstream military leadership (BBC Russian Service, 2023). At the same time, the more closely aligned Wagner becomes with formal military structures, the more it will lose its raison d’etre – and what Aksenov characterised as freedom from the mistakes and systemic problems that have plagued the Russian military in Ukraine. Wagner is of course not the only Russian PMC, and Russia is continually experimenting with new units and approaches.

Troshev’s key relationships, inside and outside Wagner

Family

No details known.

Business interests

None reported.

Troshev’s biography: The road to Wagner

Professional background

Troshev fought in the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Second Chechen War. He subsequently became a member of the Special Purposes Mobile Unit (OMON) in St Petersburg and a commander of the Special Quick Response Unit (SOBR) of the Northwestern Federal District. He retired with the rank of police colonel in 2014 (Novaya Gazeta, 2023; Vazhnyye istorii, 2023; Fontanka.ru, 2016).

Troshev within Wagner

Denis Korotkov, an investigate reporter who specialises in Russian PMCs, claimed that Troshev travelled with key Wagner leader Dmitriy Utkin and other members of Prigozhin’s security detail in 2015-2016, and he opined that Troshev probably also worked for Prigozhin’s Concord company at that time (53). Korotkov described Troshev as the Wagner Group’s Executive Director (Chief of Staff) in both 2017 and 2023 (Fontanka.ru, 2017; Dossier Center, 2023).

Troshev co-founded the League for the Protection of the Interests of the Veterans of Local Wars and Armed Conflicts, an organisation closely linked to Prigozhin and Wagner (Fontanka.ru, 2016). On 30 June, shortly after the ‘coup attempt,’ the Razgruzka Vagnera Telegram channel posted an order dated the same day that stated that the Wagner Council of Commanders had replaced Troshev as head of the League with Dmitriy Podolskiy, another former Wagner commander (Telegram, 2023). The state register of companies, however, only recorded the change on 8 September 2023 (Unified State Register of Legal Persons, undated).

Troshev was involved in Wagner’s operations in Syria – he was reportedly awarded the Hero of Russia in 2016 for his role in the capture of Palmyra (Fontanka.ru, 2016), and the EU sanctioned him for his activities in the country (Official Journal of the European Union, 2021) – before coordinating Wagner activities in Ukraine (Bellingcat, 2020).

Controversies and incidents: Wagner leader Troshev drunk in St Petersburg

Fontanka reported on an incident in June 2017, when Troshev ended up in a St Petersburg hospital in an “inadequate state” and in possession of R5 million, $5,000, maps of Syria, and purchase orders for equipment (Fontanka.ru, 2017). The Grey Zone Telegram channel later claimed he had been drunk at the time (Telegram, 2023).

Digital Troshev: A Wagner leader with a limited online presence

Troshev does not have any known social media accounts and generally appears to keep a low profile.

International response: Wagner leader Troshev on the sanctions list

Troshev was sanctioned by the EU under its Syria programme on 12/13 December 2021. The designation decision said that he “is directly involved in the military operations of the Wagner Group in Syria. He was particularly involved in the area of Deir ez-Zor. As such, he provides a crucial contribution to Bashar al-Assad’s war effort and therefore supports and benefits from the Syrian regime” (Official Journal of the European Union, 2021).

Troshev was sanctioned by Ukraine on 26 February 2022 for his activities in the country (President of Ukraine, 2023).

The UK imposed an asset freeze and travel ban under the The Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 on 29/6/22, on the grounds that Troshev was Chief Executive of the Wagner Group and “Therefore, he has supported the Syrian regime, was a member of a militia, and has repressed the civilian population in Syria” (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, undated).

Troshev does not appear on the US Department of Treasury’s list of sanctioned individuals.