Just a few hours after the private Embraer RA-02795 jet crashed near Kujenkino, northwest of Moscow, on August 23, Russian-speaking Telegram channels went into panic mode. The list of the seven passengers and three crew members had just been published on the instant messaging app by the Federal Aviation Agency. Yevgeny Prigozhin's name was on it.

The Wagner mercenary chief was not the only of the group's leaders recorded on the flight. Others, some of them high-ranking within the organization, were also supposedly on board. Thanks to open data and leaked internal Wagner documents, Le Monde has put together profiles for some of these passengers.

Yevgeny Prigozhin

He's the head of the Wagner Group. After several years of denying it, in September 2022 Prigozhin finally acknowledged having founded the mercenary group, in 2014. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he has not stopped speaking out in defense of his men – even to the point of openly opposing the Russian Ministry of Defense.

On June 23, 2023, Prigozhin and some of his mercenaries rebelled and headed for Moscow. The mutiny, which failed, resulted in the exile of some of his troops to Belarus.

Dmitry Utkin

Utkin is a key figure within the Wagner group. Born in June 1970, the former member of the Russian special forces (GRU) went to fight in Syria in 2013 with the Slavonic Corps, a group of Russian mercenaries. On his return, he and his fellow fighters were arrested by the FSB. Mercenary work is officially forbidden in Russia. Utkin escaped conviction.

The rest of his journey is not so clear. How, in what context and why did he meet Prigozhin? As early as 2014, he began leading soldiers paid by Prigozhin, according to Dossier Center, a group of investigators funded by Russian businessman and dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Utkin reported directly to Prigozhin and adopted his nickname, "Wagner," which would soon be used to name the entire group. Since then, the Wagner Group steadily expanded its activities in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa, with the backing and complicity of the Kremlin.

In an internal document seen by Le Monde, Utkin, nom de guerre "Ninth," was listed as "commander" of Evro Polis in 2021, the Wagner Group's front company in Syria. Utkin was at the heart of the Wagner group right up to the very end.

Valeriy Chekalov

According to Dossier Center, the 47-year-old businessman held an important position within the Wagner Group. Chekalov was in charge of security and logistical support for the mercenaries. Nicknamed "Rover" and holder of serial number M-2444, he managed natural resource exploitation projects, particularly oil, in countries where Wagner was active. Through his company Neva, he was linked to Evro Polis.

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