Tragedy at Lake Segozero: Ex‑Wagner mercenary drowns
The body of Andrei Tkachenko was found in Lake Segozero in Karelia, Russia. Tkachenko was a mercenary in the Wagner Group, once working closely with its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to a statement issued by the regional department for emergencies in Russia, 37-year-old Tkachenko, a permanent resident of the Leningrad Oblast, travelled to Karelia with his eight-year-old son to fish and stayed with his friend Dmitry.
On 28 October, Tkachenko, along with his friend and son, set out on Lake Segozero in a rented boat when a storm reportedly broke out unexpectedly. Official information indicates that the wind capsized the boat about 400 metres from the shore. Tkachenko's son managed to save himself by swimming to a nearby island. The two adult men reportedly drowned.
Tkachenko's body found six days later
Two days later, rescuers found the body of Tkachenko's friend, Dmitry. The body of the former mercenary from the Wagner Group was found four days afterwards.
According to local press, Tkachenko joined military operations against Ukraine at the end of 2022 and returned from the front in early June 2024. Before the war broke out, he was associated with the Wagner Group for approximately four years, operating in Syria, among other places.
As reported by the Moscow Times, the Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" previously stated that Tkachenko, while working for Prigozhin, spied on Alexander Vinokurov, the son-in-law of Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. For his work, he was reportedly paid 270,000 roubles.
