Valery Dmitrievitch Bolotov ( rus, Вале́рий Дми́триевич Бо́лотов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbolətəf; uk, Вале́рій Дми́трович Бо́лотов; 13 February 1970 – 27 January 2017) was a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

leader known for his involvement in the Donbas War in

eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or east Ukraine ( uk, Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Khar ...

, and as the leader of the self-proclaimed

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic (russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, ; abbreviated as LPR or LNR, rus, ЛНР) is a disputed entity created by Russian-backed ...

Biography

Little is known about Bolotov's life prior to 2014; in a video of him voting in a local referendum, he presents a Ukrainian passport which indicates that he was born in

Taganrog Taganrog ( rus, Таганрог, p=təɡɐnˈrok) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: History of Taganrog Th ...

, Rostov Oblast on 13 February 1970. In 1974, he moved to Stakhanov, in the

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast ( uk, Луга́нська о́бласть, translit=Luhanska oblast; russian: Луганская область, translit=Luganskaya oblast; also referred to as Luhanshchyna, uk, Луга́нщина) is the easternmost oblast ...

, eastern Ukraine. Bolotov claimed to be a senior sergeant of the

Soviet Airborne Troops The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed be ...

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest c ...

(presumably the

103rd Guards Airborne Division The 103rd Separate Guards Airborne Brigade is an airborne brigade of the Belarusian Special Forces. Its predecessor unit was the 103rd Guards Airborne Division (russian: 103-я гвардейская воздушно-десантная орден� ...

), and between 1989 and 1990 participated in a number of conflicts, including those in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Yerevan and

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and ...

. He later became the head of the airborne veterans group, while no one of the Luhansk Oblast group cell can confirm it. Bolotov worked as a manager and director at a meat factory and used to run a small business. Before the pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Bolotov was a representative of

Oleksandr Yefremov Oleksandr Yefremov or Aleksandr Efremov ( uk, Олександр Сергійович Єфремов, russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Ефре́мов) is a Ukrainian former parliamentarian and politician. A former governor o ...

who supervised

illegal mining Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the ca ...

in the region. In 2014, Bolotov became a leader of an armed group during the

2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succe ...

. On May 13, 2014, Bolotov survived an assassination attempt as assailants fired automatic weapons towards his car, wounding the militant leader. Bolotov was then briefly captured by the

Ukrainian army The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They w ...

on May 17 after he attempted to re-enter

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

following his having received treatment for his injury at a hospital in Russia. However, armed supporters of the Luhansk People's Republic attacked the Ukrainian army checkpoint where Bolotov was being held shortly afterwards and successfully freed the "People's Governor". He resigned from the position on 14 August 2014.

Death

Bolotov was found dead on 27 January 2017 in his own home in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

.Dergchov, V.
There died the first leader of LPR (Умер первый глава ЛНР Валерий Болотов)
'. RBC. 27 January 2017 Investigators tried to determine the cause of his death as the preliminary results of clinical tests showed an

acute heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

as the cause of his death. His wife later claimed that he may have been poisoned. Though more detailed report of the local police office claimed that there were no obvious signs of the acute heart failure and only small

atherosclerotic Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usually no ...

plaques were identified instead, it was known that before death he was complaining to his wife about his health deterioration, which happened right after drinking a cup of coffee at the business meeting in company with two men he allegedly knew, it became later known that Bolotov met with ex-speaker of the People's council of the LNR Alexey Karyakin and Valery Alexandrovich as he had said and added also that the meeting was appointed by request of Bolotov himself. Bolotov's corpse was later tested for the presence of the poisoning drugs in his body at the request of his wife, but as of 2018, the results are unknown. His widow has two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolotov, Valery 1970 births 2017 deaths Military personnel of the Nagorno-Karabakh War Politicians from Taganrog People of Anti-Maidan People of the Luhansk People's Republic Pro-Russian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas Russian expatriates in Ukraine Russian nationalists Unsolved deaths Warlords Ukrainian collaborators with Russia Heads of the Lugansk People's Republic

Biography

Death

See also

References

External links