The name came from a man named dmitri utkin, who is a airborn parra trooper veteran. He actuallywas a veteran of the afghanistan war in the soviet times. There seemed to be suggestions that butkin has either notsy sympathies or notsy leanings. It starts with this one guy who had kind of an obsession with apocalypse now, and adopted this nickname.
The Wagner Group, a superviolent (and supersecretive) team of Kremlin-aligned mercenaries, is doing Vladimir Putin’s dirty work in Ukraine and around the world.
This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and edited by Matt Collette (who also did the fact-check) and Noel King (who also hosted).
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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