Chekalov is a businessman who holds senior positions in Prigozhin’s empire.

In July, the State Department announced sanctions against Chekalov for his ties to Prigozhin as well as for facilitating munitions shipments to Russia.

Chekalov, born Jan. 10, 1976, is the registered director of Neva, a company linked to PMC Wagner activities in Libya and Syria, and is also listed as the owner of Kollective Services, a St. Petersburg-based company that shares addresses with Prigozhin’s Concord Holding Company, according to All Eyes on Wagner, an open-source research group.

Chekalov’s leaked correspondences, obtained by the Dossier Center, an investigative group founded by an exiled Putin opponent, from March 12, 2019, detailed the extent and breadth of Wagner support for the Libyan National Army.

Chekalov’s public social media profiles — corroborated by his phone number, photos, date of birth and company registry — show that he lives in St. Petersburg and occasionally vacationed with his wife in Russia’s far-east region. His profile also states that he formerly served in the Russian navy.