Overview

Vladimir Kitaev (call sign “Kitaec,” which translates as “Chinese”) commanded the Wagner Group’s Fifth Assault Detachment, consisting of 800 ex-convicts pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin for joining the war in Ukraine. Prior to that, Kitaev was deployed in the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, and Syria. During his career with the Wagner Group, Kitaev worked his way up through several junior positions across multiple assault detachments before becoming an assault detachment commander.

Kitaev was born on July 1, 1984, in Nakhodka, a port city in Primorsky Krai. Trained as a ship electrician, he served in the 14th Special Purpose Brigade of Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), military unit 74854, located in Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai. In August 2005, he was deployed in Russian military operations in the North Caucasus. Kitaev received a one-year suspended sentence for a stabbing in 2010 and later worked for Sberbank. He is married with two children.

Kitaev joined the Wagner Group in September 2015. He received the Order of Courage for operations in Syria’s Aqayrbat and Deir ez-Zor regions. Kitaev used the call signs Kitaec and Iceman at different points in his Wagner career, apparently alternating between them. He served in the Fifth Assault Detachment in Libya, where he took part in the failed siege of Tripoli. Internal documents place him in Tarhunah alongside Wagner field commander Anton Yelizarov (call sign “Lotus”). During this time, he may have led the “Chinese” group. After Libya, he relocated to the CAR and served as an interim commander of the Third Assault Detachment and was involved in training CAR military forces (the Forces Armées Centrafricaines or FACA) unit in the Berengo base. In 2023, Kitaev received the title “Hero of Russia,” which was not publicized by the Kremlin.

Kitaev gained notoriety for allegedly directing the killing of civilians and children in Bakhmut and Soledar. According to a Ukrainian source, he might have been nominated for the Order of St. George (First Degree) for his role in capturing the city of Bakhmut between February 2022 and May 2023. A former Wagner employee testified that Kitaev issued orders for the killing of Russian deserters and unarmed Ukrainians and that these orders were carried out. Internal Wagner Group memos and statements named Kitaev as participating in the 2017 killing of Hamdi Bouta in Syria. In 2021, Kitaev was sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.