Artem (or Artyom) Vladimirovich Zhoga (, ; born 18 January 1975) is a Russian military officer and politician serving as the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the

Ural Federal District Ural Federal District ( rus, Уральский федеральный округ, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 12,080,523 (79.9% urban) according to the ...

since 2 October 2024. Previously, he was the Chairman of the

People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic The People's Council (), formerly the Supreme Council (), is the regional parliament of the Donetsk People's Republic, a disputed entity annexed as a federal subject by Russia from Ukraine in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hist ...

from September 2023 to October 2024. He was the commander of the

Sparta Battalion The Sparta Battalion () or 80th Separate Guards Reconnaissance Battalion "Sparta" named after A. S. Pavlov (; MUN 08806) is a special purpose unit of the Russian Armed Forces. Until 2023, the unit was part of Russian people's militia military u ...

, a pro-Russian force that is involved in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. His son

Vladimir Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

was the commander of the battalion from 2016 until his death in 2022.

Early life and pre-war period

Artem Zhoga was born in Shiroky,

Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East, Far East region of the country, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Magadan ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 18 January 1975. His son

was born in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

in 1993 and the family moved to

Sloviansk Sloviansk is a city in Donetsk Oblast, northern part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The city was known as ''Tor'' until 1784. While it did not actually belong to the raion itself, Sloviansk served as the administrative center of the S ...

shortly after. Prior to the start of the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, Zhoga was engaged in business, running several fish stores in Sloviansk.

Russo-Ukrainian War

War in Donbas

Following the start of the War in Donbas, Zhoga and his son Vladimir joined the pro-Russian separatist forces and enlisted in the

, becoming close friends with its commander

Arsen Pavlov Arsen Sergeyevich Pavlov (; 2 February 1983 – 16 October 2016), known by his Motorola (), was a Russian militant known for murdering and torturing Ukrainian POWs, who led the Sparta Battalion up until his death in an explosion in his apart ...

. Pavlov was assassinated in 2016 and Vladimir Zhoga succeeded him as the commander of the Sparta Battalion, with Artem being appointed the chief of staff of the battalion.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

He was among the speakers at the March 2022 pro-war rally in Moscow and stated that "our task is to liberate our land from Nazi people". On 9 May 2022 for

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

, Zhoga met with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

where his late son's

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation ( rus, Герой Российской Федерации, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ), also unofficially called Hero of Russia ( rus, Герой России, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲiɪ), is ...

award was presented to him. On 30 September 2022, he was seen present in the front-row seating during Vladimir Putin's signing ceremony in Moscow Kremlin's St. George's Hall for the Russian

Annexation of Southern and Eastern Ukraine Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

. On 15 September, Zhoga announced that an "eight episode series" that he was involved in making would premiere in a month. Called "FATHERS OF DONBASS" he described it as "A series about the strong spirit of people who resist global Nazism and win this difficult fight. They live and enjoy every day, give birth and raise children no matter what". He announced on his Instagram account that the series will premiere on 15 October 2023.

Political career

In 2023, Zhoga joined the ruling

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

party and entered politics. In the

2023 Russian regional elections The 2023 Russian elections took place in Russia on Sunday, 10 September 2023 (single election day), with several regions allowing voting on 8 and 9 September. There were three by-elections to the 8th State Duma, 22 gubernatorial elections (21 dir ...

in the Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, Zhoga was elected member of the

. On 20 September, Zhoga was elected Chairman of the People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic. On 2 October 2024, Zhoga was appointed Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the

by President Vladimir Putin. On 25 October 2024, President Putin appointed Zhoga to the

Security Council of Russia The Security Council of the Russian Federation ( SCRF or Sovbez; ) is a constitutional consultative body of the Russian president that supports the president's decision-making on national security affairs and matters of strategic interest. Comp ...

. The

Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is an American nonprofit research group and advocacy think tank founded in 2007 by military historian Kimberly Kagan and headquartered in Washington, D.C. ISW provides research and analysis of modern arm ...

assessed Zhoga's appointment to the Security Council as an "ongoing effort to establish younger, pro-war figures within the Kremlin".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhoga, Artem 1975 births Living people People from the Donetsk People's Republic Ukrainian collaborators with Russia Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas People from Magadan Oblast United Russia politicians