Utkin's widow recounts how she met Wagner commander

To mark the third anniversary of the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, commander of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), his widow Anastasia gave a wide-ranging interview. The conversation aired on Rodina FM radio with Andrei Krasnobayev and Igor Yeliseyev, author of the book The Wagner Empire. As a reminder, three years ago on 23 August, a business jet flying from Moscow to St Petersburg crashed, killing ten people.

In the interview, Anastasia shared the story of how she met her future husband. At the time she was a 23-year-old woman working as a real estate agent, and she came to a restaurant on Kazanskaya Street for a consultation about an apartment. At the next table she noticed Dmitry Utkin, who immediately drew her attention despite the age gap — he was 23 years older.

After tea with jam, a tradition in Prigozhin«s company, Utkin went outside and Anastasia followed him. «It can»t be explained, I just felt intuitively that I had to get up, go after this man, strike up a conversation,» she recalled. The interest was mutual: after two minutes of talking, Utkin said: «You«re interesting, give me your number.»

According to Anastasia, his energy was felt by everyone around him. Subordinates strove to carry out his orders, and she noticed this more than once while accompanying her husband on trips to countries where the PMC operated. On these «business trips» she handled «social work»: everything to do with women, children and creativity, so that «it wouldn«t be boring.»

The couple also travelled for pleasure: Anastasia introduced her husband to Karelia (northwestern Russia) and the Ladoga skerries. However, Yevgeny Prigozhin once warned Utkin against a society lifestyle, sending a note after the couple were caught by photographers at the Leningrad Center. Since then, Anastasia says, she took on the role of bodyguard, not allowing her husband to be photographed.

Despite being immersed in military affairs, Utkin, like Prigozhin, knew how to relax with friends. Igor Yeliseyev, Prigozhin«s personal assistant, shared his memories: «Yevgeny Viktorovich met with friends, spent time with his grandchildren, he had a wonderful friend Mr Shnurov, with whom he sat around; he told me quite a lot about how they joked and had fun somewhere in the kitchen, he sang some songs, as far as I remember. These people were not strangers to anything human.»

Anastasia said that at home Dmitry listened to AC/DC, but in Syria, when the commanders had no other player besides Utkin«s tablet, they listened to the music of Wagner.

During the interview, Wagner awards were shown: the Hero of Russia star and a medal issued by Prigozhin after the capture of Palmyra (ancient city in Syria). Anastasia noted that there were many awards, and they are now displayed in her bedroom as a small museum.