Alexander Zakharchenko | |
|---|---|
Александр Захарченко | |
_(cropped).jpg) Zakharchenko in 2016 | |
| Head of the Donetsk People's Republic | |
| In office 4 November 2014 – 31 August 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Office established (Pavel Gubarev as People's Governor) |
| Succeeded by | Dmitry Trapeznikov (acting) Denis Pushilin |
| Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic | |
| In office 7 August 2014 – 31 August 2018 | |
| President | Himself |
| Deputy | Vladimir Antyufeyev Ravil Khalikov Alexander Borodai Andrei Purgin |
| Preceded by | Alexander Borodai |
| Succeeded by | Dmitry Trapeznikov (acting) |
| Military commandant ofDonetsk | |
| In office 16 May 2014 – 6 July 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Igor Strelkov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-06-26)26 June 1976 |
| Died | 31 August 2018(2018-08-31) (aged 42) |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Resting place | Donetskoe More Cemetery |
| Political party | Donetsk Republic[1] |
| Spouse | Natalia Zakharchenko |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Donetsk National Technical University |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Donetsk People's Republic Novorossiya |
| Branch/service | United Armed Forces of Novorossiya |
| Rank | Major General DNR[2] Major General LNR |
| Commands |  51st Guards Army |
| Battles/wars | |
Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko[a] (26 June 1976 – 31 August 2018) was a pro-Russianseparatist leader[3][4] who was the Russia-installed head of state and prime minister of theDonetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed rebel group which declared independence fromUkraine on 11 May 2014.[5][6][7][8]
Zakharchenko was killed in August 2018 when a bomb exploded in a café that he frequently visited inDonetsk.[9][10][11]
Zakharchenko graduated from technical college. He then worked as a mine electrician before opening a business in the mining industry. He studied with the law institute of the Interior Ministry.[12][13]
In December 2013, Zakharchenko became head of the Donetsk branch of OPLOT, a pro-Russian militant organization established inKharkiv byYevgeny Zhilin.[14] On 16 April 2014, in the chaotic aftermath ofEuromaidan, 20 members of Oplot (including Zakharchenko), armed with clubs, rifles and some automatic weapons, occupied the offices ofDonetsk City Council, demanding a referendum on the status of the region.[15][16]By late April 2014, Zakharchenko was the commander of OPLOT.[17]
From May 2014, Zakharchenko was playing a leading role in the insurgency against Ukraine's central government, withleaked emails showing Russia's role in his rise.[18][19][13] On 22 July 2014, he was wounded in the arm during a fight against Ukrainian government forces atKozhevnia.[12] In late August 2014, the DPR Ministry of Defence announced Zakharchenko's promotion tomajor general.[2]
Zakharchenko succeededAlexander Borodai as DPR prime minister on 7 August 2014, with Borodai becoming Deputy Prime Minister.[20][21][18] Borodai later stated that Donbas native Zakharchenko had been installed over him as part of Russian government effort 'to try to show the West that the uprising was a grassroots phenomenon', claiming that he had personally recommended Zakharchenko for the post of prime minister.[22][23] In September 2014, Zakharchenko was the lead negotiator for the DPR at theMinsk Protocol, which agreed to a peace plan for thewar in Donbas.[24]
During the 2014Donetsk parliamentary elections, Zakharchenko won the prime ministership with 78.93% of the vote.[25] The day after the elections, the head of Oplot organization Evgeniy Zhylin gave an interview to the Russian television channelTV Rain where he told how Zakharchenko was appointed as a head of Donetsk branch of Oplot and how his candidacy as a leader of the DPR was promoted from Moscow.[26] In January 2015, byDonetsk Airport, Zakharchenko told British journalistGraham Phillips that a year ago he had led a 'normal life, going tobanyas and cafes with his friends'.[27]
In February 2015, Zakharchenko, representing the DPR, agreed to theMinsk II peace treaty, calling it a "major victory for theLugansk and Donetsk People's Republics".[28] After signing the Minsk agreements, Zakharchenko stated that should the Ukrainian authorities violate the terms of the agreements, violate the territorial agreements, or fail to release the DPRprisoner of wars, he would takeKharkiv and destroy the Ukrainian battalions inDebaltseve. Zakharchenko further stated that he had no intention of adhering to the ceasefire within the Debaltseve region.[29] The LPR and DPR went on to capture Debalteve, with Zakharchenko wounded in the leg on 17 February 2015 during the closing stages of theBattle of Debaltseve.[30]
During the2014 Donbas parliamentary elections campaign, Zakharchenko told potential voters that he wanted pensions to be "higher than inPoland."[31] Zakharchenko said this was feasible because Donetsk is very rich, "like theUnited Arab Emirates [...] [the Donetsk people] have coal,metallurgy, natural gas [. . .] [t]he difference between [them] and the Emirates is they don't have a war [in the Emirates] and [Donetsk does]."[32] Zakharchenko promised to build "a normal state, a good one, a just one. [Donetsk] boys died for this, civilians are still being killed for this".[31] He stated: “…this generation is being raised on democracy, which implies that a family can have two fathers or two mothers. To me, this is categorically unacceptable.”[33]
In an interview withZakhar Prilepin onTsargrad TV in late 2016, he said that Britain must be conquered, which would usher in a "Golden Age for Russia".[34][35] Prilepin, a Russian writer and political activist of theNational Bolshevik Party, stated that Zakharchenko was among the top five most popular politicians in Ukraine and could be elected thePresident of Ukraine.[36][37][38][39] In 2016, Prilepin published a book in which Alexander Zakharchenko is the protagonist.[40]
In July 2015, Zakharchenko said he admired the far-rightUkrainian ultranationalist partyRight Sector "when they beat up the gays in Kyiv and when they tried to depose Poroshenko".[41] Zakharchenko was in favour of thedeath penalty.[42]
Zakharchenko repeatedly expressed his positive andnostalgic views on theSoviet Union, saying "[The USSR] is love for the Motherland, it is respect for the army, it is upbringing, it is care for the elderly, for children. [...] It is free medicine, free education - the best in the world. America and Europe used our methods and formed their teaching methods from our experience.".[43] He also referred to the USSR as his motherland.[44] Zakharchenko was also an admirer of theCuban revolution,Fidel Castro andChe Guevara, comparing the Donbass separatists to the Cuban revolutionaries.
In October 2014, Zakharchenko declared in interview that he can shell at any Ukrainian city with a clear conscience, stating: "If I don't shellAvdiivka (by Donetsk) it's because my people live there, but I can shell any other Ukrainian city and I won't feel sorry for the civilians or anyone else. This is a different war. You came to kill us, just to destroy us. So you will get done to you what you are doing here".[45]
During the war in Donbas there were many cases offorced disappearances in the Donetsk People's Republic. Zakharchenko said that his forces detained up to five "Ukrainian subversives" every day. It was estimated that about 632 people were under illegal detention by separatist forces by 11 December 2014.[46]
Freelance journalistStanislav Aseyev was abducted on 2 June 2017 under espionage charges. At first, thede facto DNR government denied knowing his whereabouts, but on 16 July an agent of the DNR's Ministry of State Security confirmed that Aseyev was in their custody and that he was suspected of espionage. Independent media was not allowed to report from the DNR-controlled territory.Amnesty International demanded that Zakharchenko release Aseyev.[47] He was released in 2019.[48]
 Café "Separ" after the explosion, with a temporary memorial to Zakharchenko |
Zakharchenko was killed by a bomb explosion in the café "Separ" ("Сепар", a slang term for "separatist" both inUkrainian andRussian) on Pushkin Boulevard in Donetsk, on 31 August 2018.[49] Reports say DNR's finance minister Alexander Timofeyev was also wounded in the blast.[50]
The DNR and the Russian Federation blamed the Ukrainian government authorities. Officials in Kyiv rejected the accusations, stating that Zakharchenko's death was the result of civil strife in the DNR. Initial reports say that Deputy Prime MinisterDmitry Trapeznikov was appointed acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic.[51]
Funeral and memorial services were scheduled for 2 September, in theDonetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.[52] A three-day mourning period was declared on 1 September, with the start of the new academic year in the territory being postponed until 4 September.[53]
Russian PresidentVladimir Putin sent his condolences to Zakharchenko's family, calling his death a "contemptible murder".[54][55] TheRussian Foreign Ministry's official spokespersonMaria Zakharova blamed Ukraine for the death, claiming that it is "driving its country to the verge of an all-out disaster at increasingly faster speeds".[56] The acting head of theLuhansk People's Republic,Leonid Pasechnik, paid tribute to Zakharchenko at a memorial service in the Republic, saying that the "banner of struggle, lifted by Alexander Zakharchenko, will never fall". He said that the Donbas region "will not forgive Zakharchenko's murder".[57]
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