Aleksey Mozgovoy | |
|---|---|
 Mozgovoy in 2014 | |
| Born | (1975-04-03)3 April 1975 Nyzhnia Duvanka,Svatove Raion,Voroshilovgrad Oblast,Ukrainian SSR,Soviet Union |
| Died | 23 May 2015(2015-05-23) (aged 40) nearMykhailivka, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine |
| Allegiance |  Lugansk People's Republic |
| Service |  Novorossiya Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 2014–2015 (Novorossiya) |
| Rank | Senior sergeant (Ukraine) Kombrig (Novorossiya) |
| Unit |  Prizrak Brigade |
| Battles / wars | |
Aleksey Borisovich Mozgovoy[a] (Russian:Алексе́й Бори́сович Мозгово́й;Ukrainian:Олексі́й Бори́сович Мозгови́й,romanized: Oleksii Borysovych Mozghovyi; 3 April 1975 – 23 May 2015) was a commander of the Russian-installed separatistLuhansk People's Republic inUkraine. He was the leader of the pro-RussianPrizrak Brigade.
He was assassinated in Donbas, with multiple theories about who was responsible circulating initially,[1] ultimately witness statements pointing at Russian forces.[2][3][4] In 2020 he was found guilty posthumously by a separatist court of a murder-for-hire of a family and crippling of a ten-year-old child.[5]
Mozgovoy was born in the village ofNyzhnia Duvanka,Svatove Raion,Luhansk Oblast located in the eastern part of Ukraine. Mozgovoy grew up inSvatove township where he participated in a local choir, theSvatove Cossacks.[6] Just before the2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Mozgovoy was a guest worker employed as a cook inSaint Petersburg.[6]
In 2014, during conflict in eastern Ukraine, he became commander of the military formation "Prizrak" (Ghost). Unofficially, his armed group was known as theAntratsyt Cossacks.[7] Mozgovoy was allied withIgor Girkin, the Donetsk People's Republic minister for defense. He was known for infighting with otherLuhansk People's Republic (LPR) rebels.[8] Mozgovoy had contact with the leader of theLiberal Democratic Party of Russia,Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and the leader ofA Just Russia,Sergei Mironov.[9][10]
Prior to his death, Mozgovoy's Prizrak brigade had been having supply issues due to his refusal to join the formal LPR power structure. It had dwindled from 3,000 fighters to several hundred. Mozgovoy and two of his colleagues, Andrey Kozlov and Anna Samelyuk, decided to move into politics and, with the assistance of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), sent an application to Kyiv to register the political partyNarodnoye vozrozhdeniye (National Renewal).[citation needed]
It was sent to Kyiv instead of to Lugansk as a proper legal process did not yet exist in the LPR for the registration of political parties. The application was received by Ukraine'sMinistry of Justice on May 5, and accepted by May 8, thus becoming the first and only political party registered by Ukraine that originated in one of the breakaway rebel territories, and the only one that Ukraine would recognize legally according to theMinsk II peace agreement.[citation needed]
On May 8, 2015, there was an international anti-fascist forum in the city ofAlchevsk in the LPR, which included around 100 attendees, including OSCE members.[citation needed] By the evening, the registration of the new party had become widely known among the attendees. The following day, the LPR authorities denied Mozgovoy permission to stage aMay 9 Victory Day parade.
Mozgovoy was killed in anambush of his motorcade on the road betweenLuhansk andAlchevsk, near the village ofMykhailivka, Perevalsk Raion, on Saturday, May 23, 2015. A roadside bombing was followed bymachine-gun fire.[11][12][13] Mozgovoy, press secretary Anna Samelyuk, a driver, and six bodyguards were killed.[14][15]
Mozgovoy had survived a similar assassination attempt in the same area two months before. He was said to be dismissive of threats to his life.[16]
The LPR press service attributed the attack to unspecified "saboteurs".[17] Surviving leaders of the Prizrak Brigade stated that Ukrainian commandos were responsible, and they called on their supporters not to spread false rumors.[18] Anton Gerashchenko, the adviser to the Ukrainianminister for internal affairs, said Mozgovoy had been assassinated by RussianGRU special forces.[9][19] Mozgovoy's supporters widely believed thatIgor Plotnitsky, the head of the LNR, was responsible for his death.[2]
On May 23, 2016, a statue of Mozgovoy was erected in Alchevsk, in the LPR.[20]
In 2020 a court in the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic determined that Mozgovoy and fellow Prizrak brigade member Aleksandr Kostin had planned and commanded the 2014 ambush and murder of a family for cash. Oleh and Iryna Burykhin were shot dead in their car, and their ten-year-old daughter Liza was left an invalid from her wounds.[21][22]
In 2018Igor Girkin revealed that Mozgovoy was killed by Russians on orders fromIgor Plotnitsky but withheld any further details,[3] in 2023 he openly stated that the assassination was conducted by "Wagner" group on orders fromVladimir Alekseyev first deputy head ofGRU.[4]
In October 2014 Mozgovoy presided over a so-called "people's court" (Russian:Народный суд) that issued a death sentence against a suspect accused of rape by asking the audience to raise hands.[23][24][25] Answering questions from the audience afterward, Mozgovoy said that he ordered his patrols to "arrest any woman found sitting in a pub or cafe".
The statement that caused the controversy was:
If tomorrow I see in a cafe, in a pub even one young lady, she will be arrested ... А woman should be the guardian of the hearth, the mother. And what kind of mothers do they become after pubs? ... A woman should stay in the house bakingpirozhki and only celebrate [meaning "drink" in this context] on theInternational Women's Day. It is time to remember that you are Russian! It is time to get your spirituality back![citation needed]
After the statement caused a significant critical response in Russian media, he had to explain that he said that because he thought that women "should care about their safety", that the intention of the statement was to make people think about morals and that he was not going to arrest anyone.[26][27] Despite this, in an interview toNovaya Gazeta on 17 November 2014, Mozgovoy claimed that "young girls who need to give birth to children so that there is no demographic crisis are ruining their bodies instead", underlining that "in the old days was it generally forbidden for a girl to sit at the table [...] Because she is a mother first and foremost. But what kind of mother will she be if she ruined her body with alcohol, and now also with drugs?".[28]
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