Igor Nikolayevich Bezler (; ; born 1965,

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

Crimean Oblast * oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often tr ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

), known by the pseudonym "Bes" (, ) is one of the pro-Russian rebel leaders whose group controlled the local police department in

Horlivka Horlivka ( ; , ), also known as Gorlovka (, ), is a city in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Its population is Economic activity is predominantly coal mining and the chemical industry. The Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages has a two-building ...

. He was a prominent commander in the early phases of 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 ...

: the 2014 Russian military intervention in Crimea and the 2014 War in Donbas. In 2014 he went into hiding and as of 2016 issued statements denouncing the Russian-backed separatist groups. In November 2020

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...

claimed that Bezler, with a fake

Russian passport The Russian passport () is a biometric travel document issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Russian citizens for international travel. This external Russian passport is distinct from the internal Russian passport, which is a mandato ...

issued to the name of ''Igor Nikolaevich Beregovoy'' (Игорь Николаевич Береговой), lives in Russian annexed

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

since October 2014.

Biography

Bezler's father, Nikolai Bezler (or Mykola Byezlyer in Ukrainian), was an

ethnic German Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War ...

(original spelling of his surname in German – Besler), his mother was an ethnic Ukrainian, but she considers herself Russian. He served in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in Afghanistan (1983–84) and fought against the separatist forces in

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

. He was awarded the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

. In 1994-97 Bezler studied at the

Dzerzhinsky Military Academy Russia has a number of military academies of different specialties. This article primarily lists institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation rather than those of the Soviet Armed Forces. Russian institutions designated as an "aca ...

. (It is possible that this reference is to the

FSB Academy The FSB Academy (), in full the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (), is an education and research institution federally chartered to prepare Russian intelligence personnel for the Federal Security Service in part ...

.) The Security Service of Ukraine ( SBU) claims that until 2002 he served in detachments of the Russian General Staff

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

retiring as a lieutenant colonel. In 2002 Bezler moved to Ukraine. According to Ukrainian officials, in February 2014 he was contacted by agents of the GRU. Complying with their instructions, Bezler supposedly moved to

where he participated in number of violent events connected with taking over of military installations and government facilities. In April 2014, as a member of a diversion group, Bezler helped take over the SBU headquarters in

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

and the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

district department in

.Horlivka Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Federation appeared to be real, but in reserves
Dumskaya. April 16, 2014 On April 14, 2014, a YouTube video showed a man claiming to be a lieutenant colonel of the Russian army addressing police officers at the pro-Russian-held

police station and naming a new police chief. The man was subsequently identified as Bezler. Ukraine accused him and Igor Strelkov of orchestrating the killing of Horlivka deputy

Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak (; 30 November 1971 – 17 April 2014) was a Ukrainian politician, member of the Horlivka city council, kidnapped and then murdered by the pro-Russian militia on 17 April 2014. It was one of the first war crimes to hav ...

. Bezler denies his involvement.

MH17 involvement

According to transcripts of conversations Ukraine's intelligence services claims it intercepted at the time of the crash of MH17, Bezler was aware of an aircraft crashing. Bezler has said that the talk had really taken place but that he had talked about a Ukrainian attack aircraft shot down by the militia a day before the Malaysian airliner crash. Shaun Walker, a reporter for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, claims that Bezler "is regarded as something of a loose cannon, even by other rebels, who speak about him in hushed tones." When Walker interviewed Bezler with the hope of asking him about the MH17 crash, Bezler reportedly bragged that he summarily executes some of the combatants he captures: "Those who are fighting with the Ukrainian army, we keep as prisoners. Those who are fighting with volunteer battalions, we question them and then shoot them on the spot. Why should we show any pity to them?... You should see what they have done to my people. They chop off their heads and shit in the helmets! They are fascists! So why should we stand on ceremony with them? Questioning, an execution, that's it. I will hang those fuckers from lampposts!". According to Walker, when Bezler saw the journalists recording this conversation, he ordered, "Burn their notebooks! Seize their electronics! Search everything for compromising material and then destroy it! If you find anything, execute them as spies!... Don't think for one minute I will hesitate to have you shot."

Post MH17

In November 2014 Bezler disappeared from public sight in Donbas and speculations about his death was circulated by some Ukrainian media (including a version that he was assassinated by Russian special services).

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

representatives admitted "he left

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

" but rejected the claims about his death. A video appeared on YouTube by the end of November 2014 in which Bezler appeared, explaining he's alive and in Ukraine's

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

. In November 2019

research claimed that on 27 October 2014 Bezler moved with a fake

to Russian annexed

and has lived there since.Bellingcat established the name and location of a Russian fighter wanted by the GPU for murder

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(8 November 2019) In early March 2016 Bezler claimed in a post on

social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

VK that he "always was and still am a supporter of a single

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

federal Ukraine, but without

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and obsessive

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

" and had never been a supporter of the recreation of ''

Novorossiya Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...

''. He stated that the

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

had become a "

banana republic In political science, the term ''banana republic'' describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resource.A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, where th ...

" with a

kleptocratic Kleptocracy (from Greek , "thief", or , "I steal", and from , "power, rule"), also referred to as thievocracy, is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to expropriate the wealth of the people and land they g ...

leadership.Hello "alcoholic-Zakharchenko chicken legs": Bezler said that he was always for a United Ukraine
Obozrevatel, (March 5, 2016)

Sanctions

He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to the

. On December 19, 2014, Bezler was placed on the Specially Designated Nationals List by the U.S Office of Foreign Assets Control (

OFAC The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign p ...

). This placement prohibits U.S. persons from undertaking any business with him without first obtaining a license from OFAC.

References

External links

SBU searches for the Russian Lt Colonel who was taking over militia in Horlivka

. April 18, 2014
Ukraine claims Russian military, intelligence behind eastern unrest

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. April 21, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezler, Igor Living people 1965 births People from Simferopol Pro-Russian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine GRU officers People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War People of the Chechen wars People from the Donetsk People's Republic Russian nationalists Russian people of German descent Ukrainian people of German descent Russian people of Ukrainian descent Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions Ukrainian collaborators with Russia Recipients of the Order of Courage (Russia)