Wagner Group commander Dmitry Utkin was on the plane, along with Yevgeny Prigozhin, that crashed north of Moscow, according to the Russian civil aviation authority.

All ten on board were killed when the jet crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino Tver region, 60 miles north of Moscow, Russian authorities have said.

Russia jet crash – follow live updates

Civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia published the names of seven passengers, including Prigozhin and Utkin, and three crew members it said had been on board.

Utkin – a former Russian soldier reportedly adorned with Nazi tattoos – has been described as Prigozhin’s right-hand man and played a key role in the founding of the Wagner Group.

His call sign reportedly was Wagner, as a tribute to one of Adolf Hitler’s favourite composers, and the organisation is said to be named after him.

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Previously, Utkin was a lieutenant colonel in the GRU military intelligence service and was deployed twice to Chechnya.

The 53-year-old has also been accused of involvement in numerous war crimes, including in Homs, Syria, where he reportedly gave the order to beat a deserter to death and demanded the act be filmed.

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