Dmitri Utkin, a Leader of the Wagner Mercenaries

Dmitri Utkin, a longtime lieutenant to the Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and the person whose nom de guerre impressed the title of their personal navy outfit, Wagner, was extensively believed to have died together with him in a aircraft crash in Russia on Wednesday. He was 53.

Mr. Utkin’s dying has not been formally confirmed by the Russian authorities or by Wagner, however he was listed as a passenger on a aircraft that went down in a area because it was flying to St. Petersburg from Moscow.

Mr. Utkin, a veteran Russian navy officer, was intently intertwined with Wagner from its emergence as a reasonably modest combating group a decade in the past to its evolution right into a brutal, armed-to-the-teeth pressure prepared to do the Kremlin’s bidding from Africa to the Middle East to, most not too long ago, the most well liked spots on the Ukrainian battlefield.

But his actual position was a bit murky.

Over the years, Mr. Utkin was at instances known as the “founder” of Wagner, which first got here to public consideration throughout early forays in opposition to Ukraine ordered by President Vladimir V. Putin in 2014, a precursor to the full-scale invasion of 2022. Wagner mercenaries fought alongside pro-Russian separatists within the Donbas area, commanded by Mr. Utkin.

Whether he was the group’s precise founder, although, grew to become much less and fewer sure over time. “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,” a report issued in 2020 by the investigative web site Bellingcat stated. Open-source information, the report stated, strongly instructed that Mr. Utkin was “not in the driver’s seat of setting up this private army” however quite was a “hired gun.”

Part of the problem in understanding his position was that whereas Mr. Prigozhin was outspoken of late, delighting in seizing the highlight and denouncing rivals within the Russian common navy, Mr. Utkin was hardly ever seen in public. Bellingcat known as him “camera shy.”

In many respects, although, his affect on the tradition of Wagner appeared clear.

Mr. Utkin, a retired Russian Special Forces officer, was described as fascinated by Nazi historical past. The mercenary group’s title — and, earlier than that, Mr. Utkin’s navy name signal — was stated to have been impressed by the composer Richard Wagner, a favourite of Hitler’s. Some of the group’s fighters appeared to share that ideology: Ancient Norse symbols favored by white supremacists have been photographed on Wagner tools in Africa and the Middle East.

Mr. Utkin, who was born in 1970, served with the navy in two wars in Russia’s restive Chechnya area and was within the G.R.U., the Russian navy intelligence company, till 2013, in line with a 2020 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. After that, the report stated, he commanded a Spetsnaz particular forces unit and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.

But it was as a part of Wagner that he attained notoriety.

In 2015, a 12 months after serving to shear off sections of japanese Ukraine, the Wagner group turned its consideration to Syria, tasked by the Kremlin not solely with bolstering President Bashar al-Assad within the nation’s civil struggle but additionally with seizing oil and gasoline fields, American officers have stated. Wagner operatives have additionally fought in Sudan, the Central African Republic, Mali and Mozambique, extending Russian affect in Africa by proxy.

Officially, the Kremlin denied ties to Wagner, however in 2016 Mr. Putin awarded Mr. Utkin navy honors at a banquet.

A 12 months later, the United States bestowed its personal recognition of types: It imposed sanctions on Mr. Utkin over his actions with Wagner — particularly, recruiting troopers to hitch separatist forces in Ukraine. (Britain, the European Union and Canada additionally imposed sanctions on Mr. Utkin and Mr. Prigozhin.)

In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, Wagner’s fighters took on a serious position, most notably within the bloody, practically yearlong battle for Bakhmut, the place Mr. Prigozhin’s mercenaries finally claimed victory.

But the glory was fleeting.

Mr. Prigozhin grew more and more incensed at what he known as the incompetence of Russian navy leaders, and whereas he was cautious to profess loyalty to Mr. Putin, he spared no phrases in his denunciations of the president’s underlings. In late June, phrases turned to motion, and Wagner forces briefly took up arms in opposition to Russian troopers, outraging the Russian president.

Inside and out of doors the nation, many watched intently to see what destiny may befall Mr. Prigozhin.

In the times that adopted, Mr. Utkin stayed by the Wagner chief’s facet. And the subsequent month, video emerged that appeared to indicate Mr. Prigozhin delivering a speech to Wagner fighters who had relocated to Belarus. After ending, he turned the ground over to Mr. Utkin, who this time didn’t preserve his customary discretion.

“This is not the end,” Mr. Utkin stated.