The units of "Wagner PMC" in Soledar are commanded by former GRU special officer Anton Yelizarov, who was tried a few years ago for fraud with an official apartment.
According to the investigative journalists of the Dossier center, it is he who owns the positive Lotus, which was used by the founder of PMC Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, when he spoke in public about the person in charge of the operation in Soledar.
The Dossier Center writes that Yelizarov was convicted by a Russian court of fraud during the privatization of the apartment, and now, according to reports, he has been awarded the title of "Hero of Russia."
According to the investigators, Yelizarov is 41 years old, has a military education, served in the Airborne Forces and the GRU special forces department.
In 2014, he received a three-year suspended sentence and a fine for fraud in the case of the privatization of an office apartment. Yelizarov sued the Ministry of Defense, but ultimately lost the case, after which he was evicted from the apartment in 2016. Then he signed a contract with PMK Wagner.
The Dossier writes that the "Wagnerian" fought as part of the Russian army in the Caucasus and as part of the "Wagner PMC" in Syria and Libya. He also worked as an instructor in the Central African Republic. In September 2022, Yelizarov appeared in public with three awards — the star of the "Hero of Russia", the star of the "Hero of the DPR" and the "Hero of the LPR".