Andrei Nikolaevich Troshev

Hero of the Russian Federation Andrei Nikolaevich Troshev was born on April 5, 1962 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Troshev is a Soviet and Russian military man, retired colonel, former law enforcement officer, veteran of Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria. Known as one of the leaders of the private military company Wagner and a potential successor to its head Yevgeny Prigozhin. He gained particular fame after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023, at which the future of volunteers was discussed.

As with other Russian military personnel, Andrei Troshev's biography is largely shrouded in mystery. Some information can be found on the website of the League of Local Conflict Veterans , of which he was a co-founder and leader. Even the circumstances of Troshev’s birth are controversial: Russian media call his year of birth 1962, but EU authorities consider him older, claiming that he was born in 1953. But everyone calls Troshev’s birthplace Leningrad.

Former Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Strelkov, in a conversation with the Telegram channel “ Radiotochka NSN ”, spoke about his personal acquaintance with “Sedy”, and about his human qualities. “I know him personally[...]. A career colonel of the internal troops, with quite a lot of combat experience. Not stupid, efficient, without any special talents, but also without any special pretensions. This is the opinion I have about him. Knows how to listen carefully and does not ask stupid questions. Good performer. As far as I know, he was the chief of staff of all Wagner units in Lugansk. I saw him 5-6 times in 2016. And we talked by phone when there was a question about the possibility of my joining the Wagner PMC. I never had any complaints against him, including on the issues on which we communicated. I can’t say anything more - I didn’t serve with him, I don’t know his military talents”.

Troshev graduated from the Leningrad Higher Artillery Command Order of Lenin Red Banner School named after Red October (now the St. Petersburg Higher Artillery Command School), the Military Artillery Academy named after M.I. Kalinin (now the Mikhailovsk Military Artillery Academy), the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (now the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation).

He served in command positions in various artillery units. He commanded a self-propelled artillery battery in Afghanistan in the mid-eighties. He took part in hostilities in Afghanistan as part of a limited contingent of Soviet troops.

After the collapse of the USSR, he served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Then he transferred to the internal affairs bodies. He was an employee of the units of the special police detachment (OMON) and the special rapid reaction detachment (SOBR) of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the North Caucasus Federal District. Commanded the St. Petersburg SOBR.

Participated in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.

In 2012, Troshev became a military pensioner - he retired with the rank of police colonel ( Troshev served in senior positions in SOBR and OMON of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the North-Western Federal District). According to other sources, this happened two years later, in 2014 . However, Troshev did not leave the profession.

In 2015-2016, he took part in a military operation in Syria against the international terrorist organization "Islamic State"* (banned in the Russian Federation). He was Executive Director (Chief of Staff) of the Wagner Group, which operates in Syria and trains and directs Syrian forces. The Wagner Group supported the Assad regime and fought alongside regime-affiliated militias and the Syrian army. Andrey Troshev was 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 provided a crucial contribution to Bashar al-Assad’s war effort and therefore supported and benefited from the Syrian regime.

Troshev managed the rear service of Wagner and was sometimes referred to as the company’s “executive director. Former fighters said he was the one who gave the order to storm the oil field near Syria’s Hasham on Feb. 7, 2018. The American army was on the other side, so the Wagnerians lost several hundred fighters in one battle.

Troshev is prone to binge drinking, so he prefers to sit deep in the rear and make statements on behalf of the PMC about the progress of its operations. Troshev was taken to a hospital in St. Petersburg in June 2017 in an inadequate condition with 5 million rubles ($80,000) in his pocket. Troshev also carried maps and an order for the purchase of two dozen tents. The patient can't be talked to due to his inadequate condition. Journalists say the ambulance picked up the man at 13 Verbnaya Str. late on June 5. He was taken to the reception room but, apparently, was not able to introduce himself, the newspaper notes. He had documents in the name of Andrei Troshev, 5 million rubles and $5,000 in cash, geographic maps of Syria, settlement sheets for weapons and an electronic ticket for a plane to Krasnodar. No explanations could be received from him.

Since February 2022, he participated in the special military operation to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, leading a volunteer detachments. At the PMC he received the call sign “Sedoy”. Troshev was one of the closest associates of Dmitry Utkin, known as Wagner, whom journalists called the commander of Russian mercenaries in Syria. He was also seen on joint trips with representatives of the security service of billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin and, probably, also worked for the structures of Prigozhin's Concord Group.

On 24 June 2023, Prigozhin announced the start of a “march of justice” - thousands of “Wagnerites” went from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow. Troshev did not support the armed rebellion and agreed to a contract with the defense department. During the events of June 23-24, Troshev voluntarily decided to refuse participation and transferred the PMC’s internal information to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. A former member of the Wagner commanders’ council, Anton Elizarov, claimed that Troshev moved to another private military company, Redut.

Prigozhin regarded Troshev’s actions as betrayal. Together with PMC commander Dmitry Utkin (call sign “Wagner”), they initiated a number of publications in Telegram channels with the aim of discrediting their former accomplice.

In the summer of 2023, the media reported that Andrei Troshev was considered as a successor to the founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. A number of media outlets, citing sources in the military department, predict that Troshev, with the call sign “Sedoy,” will oversee communications between volunteer structures and the Ministry of Defense.Troshev currently worked at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. ““You yourself fought in such a unit for more than a year, you know what it is, how it’s done. You know about issues that need to be resolved in advance so that combat work can proceed in the best, most successful manner. By the way, in this regard, I would like to talk to you about issues of a social nature. You maintain relations with your comrades with whom you fought together, and continue to carry out these tasks,” Putin added in a conversation with Troshev on 28 September 2023.

In 2016, by presidential decree, Andrei Troshev was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation with a special distinction - the Gold Star medal. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, two Orders of Courage and a medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree.