Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev participated in the test launch of a “modernized high-precision missile” at the Kapustin Yar field. «The tested missile with improved precision characteristics and longer range is intended for use in the special military operation» in Ukraine, said Medvedev quoted by Tass, underlining that the tests of the weapon “will continue”. “Russia upgrades its weapons taking into account advanced Western armaments” and “this will continue until the victory in the special military operation,” he said.
Putin hires Troshev for Wagner’s “orphans”.
Retired colonel, native of St. Petersburg like the Russian president Vladimir Putinamong the founders of Wagner group and on the list of EU sanctions for its direct involvement in the Syrian theater of war: it is Andrei Troshevthe man chosen by the Kremlin to take over the reins of the mercenary group, was orphaned after the death of founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash.
The successor to “Putin’s chef”, who fell into disgrace after rising up against Moscow last June, has a gray mop from which he takes his nom de guerre “Sedoi” (grey hair). His age is uncertain, the known dates of birth do not coincide: according to Russian sources he was born in Leningrad on 5 April 1962, while on Western sanctions documents it is indicated as 5 April 1953.
A veteran of military campaigns, first Soviet and then Russian, he fought in Afghanistan during the ten-year war, for which he was twice awarded the Order of the Red Star. After the fall of the USSR, he moved to Chechnya with the Russian army and then to Sobr, a special forces unit of the Russian Interior Ministry of which he was a commander.
Among the founders of Wagner, he led mercenaries on the ground in Syria: In 2016 he was awarded the Federation’s highest honor, Hero of Russia, for the assault on Palmyra in Syria against ISIS militants. For the EU, Troshev was chief of staff of the mercenary operations supporting Damascus, “particularly involved in the Deir al-Zor area”, providing “a crucial contribution to Bashar al-Assad’s war effort”. Hence, the inclusion of him on the sanctions list in December 2021. The following year the United Kingdom also sanctioned him for direct involvement in Syria.