Dmitry Utkin

[[File:Utkin-tattoos.jpg|right|thumb|165px|
[[Fascist]] Bruce Willis
 Utkin showing off his Nazi tattoos.]]{{crimenav|1}}
'''Dmitry Valerievich Utkin''' {{lived|1970|2023}} was a [[Russia]]n [[far-right]] activist who co-founded and led the [[Wagner Group]], a private military company known for its far right views and sympathies and having committed various [[war crimes]] in several countries across the world.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Sergey |last=Sukhankin |url=https://jamestown.org/program/russian-pmcs-in-the-syrian-civil-war-from-slavonic-corps-to-wagner-group-and-beyond/ |title=Russian PMCs in the Syrian Civil War: From Slavonic Corps to Wagner Group and Beyond |date=18 December 2019 |work=Jamestown Foundation|access-date=7 April 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603055632/https://jamestown.org/program/russian-pmcs-in-the-syrian-civil-war-from-slavonic-corps-to-wagner-group-and-beyond/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52571777 |title=Wagner, shadowy Russian military group, 'fighting in Libya' |date=7 May 2020 |work=[[BBC]] |access-date=7 April 2021 |language=ru |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527120200/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52571777 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Alexander |last=Rabin |url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/10/diplomacy-and-dividends-who-really-controls-the-wagner-group/ |title=Diplomacy and Dividends: Who Really Controls the Wagner Grup |date=4 October 2019 |work=Foreign Policy Research Institute |access-date=7 April 2021 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108160314/https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/10/diplomacy-and-dividends-who-really-controls-the-wagner-group/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Candace |last=Rondeaux |url=https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/decoding-wagner-group-analyzing-role-private-military-security-contractors-russian-proxy-warfare/tracing-wagners-roots/ |title=Tracing Wagner's Roots |date=7 November 2019 |work=New America|access-date=7 April 2021 |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823041441/https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/decoding-wagner-group-analyzing-role-private-military-security-contractors-russian-proxy-warfare/tracing-wagners-roots/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Candace |last=Rondeaux |url=https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/decoding-wagner-group-analyzing-role-private-military-security-contractors-russian-proxy-warfare/forward-operations-from-deir-ezzor-to-donbas-and-back-again/ |title=Forward Operations: From Deir Ezzor to Donbas and Back Again |date=7 November 2019 |work=New America|access-date=7 April 2021 |archive-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620061927/https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/decoding-wagner-group-analyzing-role-private-military-security-contractors-russian-proxy-warfare/forward-operations-from-deir-ezzor-to-donbas-and-back-again/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to founding the Wagner Group, he served as a Russian army officer within special forces GRU where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jamie |last=Dettmer |url=https://www.voanews.com/europe/mercenary-says-kremlins-wagner-group-recruiting-inexperienced-fighters |title=Mercenary Says Kremlin's Wagner Group Recruiting Inexperienced Fighters |date=7 December 2020 |work=Voice of America|access-date=7 April 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417203206/https://www.voanews.com/europe/mercenary-says-kremlins-wagner-group-recruiting-inexperienced-fighters |url-status=live }}</ref>

Utkin was born in Asbest
os
, a small village in Russia (which was the [[Soviet Union]] at the time). He relocated to another village called Smoline with his mother during his childhood and continued to live there for most of his life.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Коротков |first=Денис |title="Хайль Петрович" |url=https://dossier.center/utkin/ |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Центр «Досье» |language=ru-RU}}</ref><ref name="censor">{{Cite web |url=https://censor.net/ua/resonance/424833/scho_dyadya_vova_skaje_te_dima_i_zrobyt_ukrayinskyyi_slid_u_doli_tayemnychogo_vatajka_pvk_vagnera |last1=Romaliyskaya |first1=Irina |title=Що дядя Вова скаже, те Діма і зробить". Український слід у долі таємничого ватажка "ПВК Вагнера |work=Цензор.нет |date=25 January 2017 |access-date=25 January 2017 |language=Ukrainian |archive-date=6 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806102443/https://censor.net/ua/resonance/424833/scho_dyadya_vova_skaje_te_dima_i_zrobyt_ukrayinskyyi_slid_u_doli_tayemnychogo_vatajka_pvk_vagnera |url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite being an important figure regarding the [[Ukraine#Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russo-Ukrainian war]] due to founding Wagner, he did not make any public appearances after 2016.<ref>{{cite web | last=Mackinnon | first=Amy | title=Russia's Wagner Group Doesn't Actually Exist | work=Foreign Policy| date=2021-07-06 | url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/06/what-is-wagner-group-russia-mercenaries-military-contractor/ | access-date=14 October 2022 | archive-date=27 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927023739/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/06/what-is-wagner-group-russia-mercenaries-military-contractor/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Affinity for Nazism==
Utkin was quite a ghastly person in life, reported to be a supporter and admirer of Nazism and [[Nazi Germany]] [[Irony|despite original Nazism’s contempt for Slavs]].. He was purported to have multiple Nazi tattoos, many with [[Waffen-SS|SS]] insignia.<ref name="Castner">{{cite web |last1=Castner |first1=Brian |title=The White Power Mercenaries Fighting For the Lost Cause Around the World |url=https://time.com/6180611/white-power-mercenaries-fighting-the-lost-cause/ |work=Time |date=1 June 2022}}</ref><ref name="Respublica">{{cite news |title=Signs of Neo-Nazi Ideology Amongst Russian Mercenaries |url=https://en.respublica.lt/signs-of-neo-nazi-ideology-amongst-russian-mercenaries |work=Res Publica |date=26 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tunis |first=Samer al-Atrush |title=Russia's Wagner mercenaries calls the shots in fight for control of Libya |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-force-fight-control-libya-tripoli-gqffq9pg0 |access-date=2022-03-23 |issn=0140-0460 |archive-date=5 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605042327/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-force-fight-control-libya-tripoli-gqffq9pg0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The secretive Russian mercenaries 'ordered to kill' Ukraine's president |url=https://www.nationalworld.com/news/world/wagner-group-russian-mercenaries-ukraine-3589837 |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=[[National World]] |language=en |archive-date=27 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327112751/https://www.nationalworld.com/news/world/wagner-group-russian-mercenaries-ukraine-3589837 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Путин принимал в Кремле командира российских наемников. Что о нем известно? |url=https://meduza.io/feature/2016/12/15/putin-prinimal-v-kremle-komandira-rossiyskih-naemnikov-chto-my-o-nem-znaem |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=Meduza |language=ru |archive-date=4 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604125212/https://meduza.io/feature/2016/12/15/putin-prinimal-v-kremle-komandira-rossiyskih-naemnikov-chto-my-o-nem-znaem |url-status=live }}</ref> Utkin also reportedly referred to himself as “Wagner” as a call sign during his time in the Russian military and named the Wagner Group after [[Richard Wagner]], a German musician with a controversial history of [[antisemitism]] whose music was appropriated by various far-right European movements in the 1900s, including the Nazis.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ibrahim |first1=Nader |last2=Barabanov |first2=Ilya |title=The lost tablet and the secret documents |url=https://bbc.co.uk/news/extra/8iaz6xit26/the-lost-tablet-and-the-secret-documents |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624100756/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/8iaz6xit26/the-lost-tablet-and-the-secret-documents |archive-date=24 June 2022 |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=BBC News |quote=}}</ref>

According to reports from other members of Wagner, Utkin was a Rodnover, a believer in the {{wpl|Slavic Native Faith||.}} Many [[Paganism|pagan]] symbols have been appropriated by present-day [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]].<ref name="Cornelio">{{cite book | last1=Cornelio | first1=J. | last2=Gauthier | first2=F. | last3=Martikainen | first3=T. | last4=Woodhead | first4=L. | title=Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge International Handbooks | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-317-29500-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBUHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA403 | quote=Members of this organization say that one of its leaders, D. Utkin (call sign Wagner), is a rodnover, native faith believer | page=403}}</ref>

==Death==
On 23 August 2023, Utkin was alleged to have died in a plane crash on the Tver Oblast along with fellow Wagner leader [[Yevgeny Prigozhin]] and other Wagner leaders.<ref>Helen Livingstone and Pjotr Sauer, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/24/who-was-dmitry-utkin-wagner-commander-plane-crash-yevgeny-prigozhin Who are the other Wagner group leaders presumed dead in plane crash?] ''[[The Guardian]]'', 24 August 2023.</ref> After the recovery of their remains and thorough genetic analysis, it was confirmed that the bodies in the crash belonged to them and they were officially pronounced dead.<ref>https://news.yahoo.com/russia-confirms-death-wagner-leaders-110836440.html</ref>

==See also==
*[[Vladimir Putin]] - his former commander in chief.
*[[Yevgeny Prigozhin]] - fellow Wagner soldier who also died in the plane crash.

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Utkin, Dmitry}}
[[Category:Fascists]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazis]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Ruskies]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Vatniks]]
[[Category:White supremacists]]

Categories: Fascists, Military, Neo-Nazis, Right-wing activists, Racists, Ruskies, Terrorists, Vatniks, White supremacists