Portrait of the commander nominated by President Putin to replace 'boss Wagner'

In a recent interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Mr. Putin revealed that he made the proposal at a meeting with Mr. Prigozhin and dozens of senior members of the Wagner group five days after their brief rebellion in late June. At the event, the Kremlin chief outlined several options for the Wagner fighters’ future, including continuing to fight under the direct leadership of a commander codenamed “Sedoy” (“Gray Hair”).

CNN cited European Union (EU) and French sanctions documents as saying that Sedoy's real name is Andrey Troshev, a retired Russian army colonel, who is both a founding member and CEO of the Wagner Group.

“Troshev has been directly involved in Wagner Group military operations in Syria, in particular in the Deir ez-Zor region, thereby making a significant contribution to President Bashar al-Assad’s war effort and providing support and benefit to the Syrian regime,” the EU document, dated December 2021, reads. This is also noted in the UK sanctions document.

Among Troshev's current associates are Dimitriy Utkin, a former Russian military intelligence officer who helped found Wagner, and force commanders such as Aleksandr Sergeevich Kuznetsov and Andrey Bogatov.

According to the Russian online news site Fontanka, before joining Wagner, “Gray Hair” was a member of the rapid reaction team of the Russian Interior Ministry working in the northwest. He is also a veteran of the wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan.

For his exceptional achievements in Afghanistan, Troshev was awarded the Order of the Red Star, Russian media reported. Authorities also awarded him two Orders of Courage and an Order of the Fatherland of the 2nd class for his outstanding contribution to the campaign in Chechnya.

Troshev was among the guests invited to a Kremlin reception in December 2016. A photograph of the event, published by Russian media in 2017, shows him and his colleague Utkin wearing medals and standing next to President Putin.

Kiev imposed sanctions on Troshev, one of the most senior commanders of the Wagner group, on February 26 this year, more than a year after Moscow launched a special military operation in Ukraine. The EU and the UK had already put him on the “blacklist of embargoes”.

According to the Telegraph, after Wagner fighters were deployed to Ukraine last year, Troshev directed the force to spearhead the effort to seize control of Bakhmut, a strategic city in the east of the neighboring country.

However, not many people know about Troshev's role in that, because Wagner's Telegram channels mainly refer to him as the Chairman of the "Federation for the Protection of the Interests of Veterans of Local Wars and Military Conflicts".

Some analysts say that while Mr. Prigozhin became famous with the nickname "Wagner boss" thanks to his acumen and understanding of media tools, Mr. Troshev always "hid in the shadows", quietly serving Moscow in the most difficult times.

There is still no confirmed information about the Wagner force's reaction to President Putin's proposal to hand over leadership of the corporation to the commander "Gray Hair".