Prigozhin's successor anointed by Putin. Already at work

The name of Andrija Troszew as a potential successor to Prigozhin first appeared in mid-July, after an unsuccessful rebellion of the Wagnerians. It was then in an interview for the "Kommiersant" daily that Putin stated he had offered the mercenaries service under a new commander. However, Prigozhin reportedly did not agree to this proposal.

According to the Russian press, the man whom Putin wanted to entrust with leading the Wagner Group, whom - as he himself stated - he called the "real commander" of the Wagner Group during a meeting with mercenaries, is Andriej Troszew, better known by the pseudonym "Siwy".

Born in April 1953 in Leningrad, the retired colonel is considered a hero in Russia. For his service during the invasion of Afghanistan, Trosev received two Orders of the Red Star - a military award from the former USSR for exceptional service.

In the 90s, he participated in the war in Chechnya. He was decorated many times, and for his participation in actions in Syria (at that time he was already retired and was operating in the units of the Wagner group - editor's note) in 2016 he received the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

For the "military operations of the Wagner Group in Syria", Troszew ended up on the European Union's sanctions lists. "He was particularly involved in the Deir ez-Zor region. He makes a key contribution to the war efforts of (Syrian president - ed.) Bashar al-Assad, and therefore supports the Syrian regime and benefits from it," was written in an EU document from 2021.

Troszew opposed Prigozhin when he decided to rebel against the Kremlin and marched on Moscow with his mercenaries. He likely warned some higher Kremlin officials about his plans. For this, he was supposedly expelled from the Wagner group.

Everything suggests, however, that his loyalty to the Kremlin was appreciated by Putin. On Friday morning, information about Putin's meeting with Troszew appeared on the official Kremlin website. From Putin's words, it appears that this was not their first meeting.

- At the last meeting, we discussed that you will be involved in forming volunteer units, which will be able to perform various combat tasks, primarily of course in the special military operations zone - Putin stated, addressing Troszew.

- You were fighting in such a unit for over a year. You know what it involves, how it's done, you know what issues need to be resolved in advance for combat work to proceed as best and most effectively as possible - he emphasized.

Putin also noted that Troszew still maintains relations with mercenaries from the Wagner group and convinced him that the government is doing everything to ensure that mercenaries fighting on the side of Russia have the same rights as other soldiers.

- We have created the "Defenders of the Homeland" fund, I have said it many times and I want to emphasize it again: regardless of the status of the person who carries out or has carried out combat missions, social guarantees must be absolutely the same for everyone. For the country, for the homeland, it does not matter in what status a person fought and defended the homeland - Putin stated.

It is not known how long Putin's conversation with Troszew lasted and exactly what was agreed during it. However, on Friday morning, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, announced that Andriy Troszew is "already working in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation".

Source: kremlin.ru, ria.ru, france24.com