The flight manifest for the airplane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday evening contained no less than one different notable identify along with Yevgeny V. Prigozhin — that of Dmitri Utkin, his longtime lieutenant in main the Wagner non-public army corporate whose mercenaries have fought now not simplest in Ukraine, but additionally in Syria and throughout Africa.
Wagner, which the U.S. govt has stated was once financed through Mr. Prigozhin, emerged all through President Vladimir V. Putin’s first attack on Ukraine in 2014, when its mercenaries fought along pro-Russian separatists within the Donbas area. The Wagner commander at the moment was once Mr. Utkin, a retired Russian Special Forces officer stated to be enthusiastic about Nazi historical past and tradition.
The crew’s identify got here from Mr. Utkin’s army name signal, which is claimed to were taken from the composer Richard Wagner, Hitler’s favourite. Some of the crowd’s opponents additionally appeared to proportion that ideology: Ancient Norse symbols preferred through white supremacists were photographed on Wagner equipment in Africa and the Middle East.
Mr. Utkin, born in 1970, served in either one of Russia’s wars in opposition to separatists within the Chechnya area, and he was once within the G.R.U., the Russian army intelligence company, till 2013. After that he commanded a Spetsnaz particular forces unit and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, according to a 2020 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While through the years Mr. Utkin has been known as the “founder” of Wagner, a 2020 investigation by the investigative website Bellingcat stated that open supply information “strongly” recommended the Mr. Utkin was once “not in the driver’s seat of setting up this private army” however quite a “hired gun.”
“While Dmitry Utkin has been widely presented as the front man and ‘principal’ for the Wagner PMC, there is ample data suggesting that his role was more of a field commander,” the report said.
After denying for years that he had any link to Wagner, Mr. Prigozhin admitted remaining 12 months that he was once its founder and leader.
Whatever his position in setting up Wagner, Mr. Utkin’s notoriety grew in conjunction with the army crew’s — even supposing he was once hardly ever noticed, described through Bellingcat as “camera shy.”
Wagner expanded to Syria in 2015, tasked now not simplest with bolstering the facet of President Bashar al-Assad within the nation’s civil warfare — but additionally with seizing oil and gasoline fields, American officers stated.
In addition to Ukraine and Syria, Wagner operatives have additionally fought in Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali and Mozambique, extending Russian affect in Africa.
Mr. Putin awarded Mr. Utkin army honors at a dinner party in 2016. A 12 months later, the United States imposed sanctions on him for his actions with Wagner — in particular, recruiting soldiers to join separatist forces in Ukraine. (Britain, the European Union and Canada also imposed sanctions on Mr. Utkin and Mr. Prigozhin.)
After Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Wagner’s opponents took on a big position — maximum significantly within the bloody, just about yearlong struggle for Bakhmut, the place they in the end claimed victory.
Even after the short-lived mutiny led through Mr. Prigozhin in opposition to Russia’s army management in June, Mr. Utkin stayed through the Wagner leader’s facet.
Video emerged in July that perceived to function Mr. Prigozhin handing over a speech to his opponents who had relocated to Belarus. After completing, he became the ground over to Mr. Utkin.
“This is not the end,” Mr. Utkin stated.