A new public entity since 2014 in southeastern Ukraine - the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) - is currently unthinkable without the name of its leader. It was Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko who, as a statesman and military leader, was until August 31, 2018 (date of death) the commander-in-chief of the DPR Armed Forces and its ideological inspirer.
Alexander Zakharchenko, at the age of forty-two, 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 special services of Ukraine, as evidenced by the testimony of the detained persons guilty of the assassination attempt. The official services of Kiev themselves categorically deny their involvement in this tragedy, claiming some kind of provocation from Donetsk.
About two hundred thousand people came to the ceremony of farewell to the hero of the DPR on September 2 in Donetsk, including Sergei Aksenov (the head of Crimea).
Biography and career of Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko
On June 26, 1976, the future head of the DPR was born into a Russian-Ukrainian miner's 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 pension 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 the owner of the diploma, he began his career at a coal mine in his native region. Here he received the highest qualification in his specialty (6th grade). By the way, for a still unknown reason, Zakharchenko dropped out of a law school in Donetsk, never becoming the owner of a higher education.
The beginning of the 2000s for Alexander Zakharchenko was marked by the beginning of entrepreneurial activities related to the coal sector of the economy. And in 2006 he became the head of the Delta-Fort company, which became part of a larger business structure headed by the tycoon R. Akhmetov. This commercial organization is engaged in business today, but Zakharchenko himself has long since left 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 their breadwinners from the law enforcement agencies, and disabled soldiers, was headed by A. V. Zakharchenko. The scope of this public organization also included activities to protect the Russian language, oust nationalist movements and preserve Soviet monuments.
Alexander Vladimirovich took a clear anti-Maidan position, because of which he soon became part of the people's militia, declaring the independence and self-determination of Donbass. And since April 2014, at the head of a team of like-minded people, he occupied the building of the city administration with arms in hand. And already in May of this year he becomes the commandant of Donetsk. In the battles in the south-east of 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 Council of Ministers of the DPR, and already in November of this year, Zakharchenko was elected by the overwhelming majority of voters as the head of the republic. And then the "Norman Quartet" on February 12, 2015 in Minsk signed a document on the general cessation of hostilities from February 15 this year. And literally 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 a part of Russia, and his plans include the transformation of Donbass into Little Russia - the state-successor of Ukraine.
Personal life of a statesman and military leader
Behind the shoulders of the family life of Alexander Zakharchenko there are two marriages. Both wives are named Natalia. There is no reliable information about the first one. And the second wife Natalya Zakharchenko gave birth to four children and appeared at one time before the viewers of the NTV channel in one of the thematic programs.
