Utkin: Dmitri Utkin, Wagner commander who gave the group its title, was amongst these aboard

The flight manifest for the airplane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday contained no less than one different notable title along with Yevgeny Prigozhin – that of Dmitri Utkin, his longtime lieutenant in main the Wagner non-public army firm. Wagner emerged throughout President Putin’s first assault on Ukraine in 2014, when its mercenaries fought alongside pro-Russian separatists within the Donbas area. The Wagner commander at the moment was Utkin, a retired Russian particular forces officer stated to be fascinated by Nazi historical past and tradition. The group’s title got here from Utkin’s army name signal, which is claimed to have been taken from the composer Richard Wagner, Hitler’s favorite. Putin awarded Utkin army honours in 2016.