Since 2014, a new state entity in the south-east of Ukraine - the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) - is currently unthinkable without the name of its leader. It was Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko, as a statesman and military leader, who until August 31, 2018 (date of death) was the commander in chief of the DPR Supreme Council and its ideological inspirer.
Alexander Zakharchenko, aged forty-two years old, died on August 31, 2018 from an explosion that occurred during the commemoration of Joseph Kobzon in the Separ cafe (Donetsk). According to Alexander Kozakov (adviser to the leader of the DPR), the murder was prepared and implemented by the Ukrainian special services, as evidenced by the testimonies of the detained persons guilty of the attempt. The very official services of Kiev categorically deny their involvement in this tragedy, claiming some kind of provocation from Donetsk.
About two hundred thousand people came to the farewell ceremony with the hero of the DPR on September 2 in Donetsk, including Sergei Aksyonov (head of the Crimea).
Biography and career of Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko
On June 26, 1976, the future head of the DPR was born into the Russian-Ukrainian mining family in Donetsk. According to information from official sources in Ukraine, the parents of Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko still live in Artemovsk, controlled by Kiev, and receive retirement benefits from Ukraine.
After receiving a certificate of secondary education, Alexander decided to study the specialty of electromechanics at a local technical school. And having become a holder of a diploma, he began his career in a coal mine in his native region. Here he received the highest qualification in the specialty (6th rank). By the way, for a reason still unknown, Zakharchenko dropped out of a law school in Donetsk without becoming a holder of higher education.
The beginning of the “zero” for Alexander Zakharchenko was marked by the beginning of entrepreneurial activity related to the coal industry. And in 2006, he became the head of the Delta Fort company, which became part of a larger business structure led by tycoon R. Akhmetov. This commercial organization is engaged in business today, however, Zakharchenko himself long ago left the composition of its co-founders.
At the end of 2013, the Donetsk branch of the non-profit patriotic organization Oplot, which provides support to families who have lost breadwinners from law enforcement agencies and to disabled soldiers, was headed by A. V. Zakharchenko. The scope of activity of this public organization also included activities to protect the Russian language, supplant nationalist movements and preserve Soviet monuments.
Alexander Vladimirovich took a clear anti-Maidan position, because of which he soon became a member of the people's militia, declaring the independence and self-determination of Donbass. And since April 2014, he led the team of like-minded people with weapons in his hands and occupied the building of the city administration. And in May of this year, he became the commandant of Donetsk. In battles in southeastern Ukraine, Zakharchenko was repeatedly wounded, and soon he was appointed deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic with the rank of major.
In August 2014, he was appointed to the vacant seat of the chairman of the DPR Council of Ministers, and in November of this year, Zakharchenko was elected by the overwhelming majority of voters as the head of the republic. And then the “Norman Four” on February 12, 2015 in Minsk signed a document on the widespread cessation of hostilities on February 15 this year. And just five days later, the leader of the DPR receives another wound in the leg in the battle for Debaltseve.
A.V. Zakharchenko was included in the American and European lists of citizens subject to sanctions. And the head of the DPR himself has repeatedly said that he considers his region to be part of Russia, and his plans include the transformation of Donbass into Little Russia - the successor state of Ukraine.
