Dimitriy Utkin, a former Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer, is the founder of the Wagner Group and responsible for coordinating and planning operations for the deployment of Wagner Group mercenaries across various countries.

In his commanding position within the Wagner Group, he is responsible for serious human rights abuses committed by the group, which include torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings.

This includes the torturing to death of a Syrian deserter by four members of the Wagner Group in June 2017 in the governorate of Homs, Syria. According to a former member of the Wagner Group, Dimitriy Utkin personally ordered the torturing to death of the deserter as well as the filming of the act.