Alexander Borodai | |
---|---|
Александр Бородай | |
![]() | |
Member of the State Duma | |
Assumed office 12 October 2021 | |
First Deputy Prime Minister of Donetsk People's Republic | |
In office 8 August 2014 – 24 October 2014 | |
Prime Minister | Alexander Zakharchenko |
Succeeded by | Dmitry Trapeznikov |
Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic[1] | |
In office 16 May 2014 – 7 August 2014 | |
Deputy | Andrei Purgin Vladimir Antyufeyev |
Succeeded by | Alexander Zakharchenko |
Personal details | |
Born | 1972 (age 51–52) Moscow, Soviet Union |
Nationality | Russian |
Political party | United Russia (since 2021) |
Alma mater | Moscow State University |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() |
Battles/wars | War in Transnistria[2] 1993 Russian constitutional crisis War in Donbass |
Alexander Yurevich Borodai (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ю́рьевич Борода́й, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bərɐˈdaj]; Ukrainian: Олександр Юрійович Бородай, romanized: Oleksandr Yuriiovych Borodai; born 25 July 1972)[3][failed verification] is a Russian member of the State Duma of the 8th convocation for the party United Russia.[4] Borodai was Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in 2014 after the Donetsk People's Republic declared its independence from Ukraine on 12 May 2014,[5][6][7][8] Borodai was appointed as Prime Minister by the republic's Supreme Council on 14 May 2014.[9] Borodai, a Russian citizen, had earlier worked as a political adviser to Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of the Republic of Crimea.[8] On 7 August 2014, Borodai announced his resignation.[citation needed] He was succeeded by Alexander Zakharchenko;[citation needed] under Zakharchenko, Borodai became Deputy Prime Minister.[10]
In his interview to Novaya Gazeta Borodai acknowledged that he has known Igor Girkin since after the war in Transnistria.[2]
Alexander Borodai lives in Moscow.[11] He is a son of Yury Borodai, a scholar in philosophy.[3] Both his father and Borodai himself were "friendly" with Lev Gumilyov, a Eurasianist philosopher.[12]
Borodai has a degree in philosophy from Moscow State University. In 1994 he worked for the RIA Novosti as a military correspondent during the First Chechen War. Since 1996 he worked for the openly anti-semitic Zavtra newspaper, which has called for pogroms against Jews.[13][14] Since 1998 he worked as a "political technologist" specialising in elections. Since 2001 he has headed the consulting business "Sotsiomaster" specializing in crisis management.[3] Borodai and the future military commander of the Donetsk People's Republic Igor Strelkov were close associates of the far-right nationalist Russian businessmen Konstantin Malofeev.[3][15][16]
According to Russian media, he was appointed as a deputy director of Russian FSB State Security in 2002 at the age of 35,[17][18] when he held the rank of major general – Borodai dismissed this as a hoax. He currently has a consultancy in Moscow and worked at a major investment fund.[11]
In the 1990s he edited a Russian[19][20][21] newspaper[22] Zavtra (Завтра -"Tomorrow"), run by journalist Alexander Prokhanov.
In December 2011, Borodai and Prokhanov co-founded the "patriotic" Web TV channel Den-TV (“Day”).[23][24] Den-TV's programming has regularly included Konstantin Dushenov, who has previously been imprisoned for anti-semitic incitement.[25]
Borodai refers to himself as "professional consultant" with expertise in ethnic conflict. “I have resolved all kinds of complicated conflict situations,” he told journalists.[11]
In 2002, according to the Moscow Times newspaper, he also dismissed reports that he had been appointed a deputy director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)[17][18] as a hoax arranged for his 30th birthday.[11]
Borodai worked as an advisor to appointed Crimea governor Sergei Aksyonov.[11] Borodai claims he worked as a “political strategist” during the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and states that the political forces that facilitated the takeover are the same as those active in the Donetsk Republic: "Naturally the people who set up these popular movements and were the initiators are the same people, they are connected to each other... So when I finished the work in Crimea I automatically... came here to work in southeast Ukraine.”[11]
Following the 2014 Donetsk status referendum; on 16 May 2014 Borodai was appointed Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic.[26]
On 28 July 2014, Borodai left Donetsk for Russia[27] and returned on 4 August.[10]
In a press conference in Donetsk on 7 August 2014, Borodai announced his resignation as Prime Minister.[citation needed] In this press conference he stated “I came here as a crisis manager, a start-upper, if you want. I’ve managed to achieve a lot in the past several months, the DPR has been established as a state”.[citation needed] As Prime Minister he was replaced by Alexander Zakharchenko.[citation needed] Borodai (also) stated he would become Zakharchenko's Deputy Prime Minister.[10] He further stated in the 7 August 2014 press conference that he believed a "native Muscovite" like him should not lead the Donetsk People's Republic.[28] In 2017 Boroday claimed (talking to Reuters) that Zakharchenko succeeded him in a Russian government effort "to try to show the West that the uprising was a grassroots phenomenon".[29]
As of 2023, Borodai is sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War. [30]
In the 2021 Russian legislative election Borodai was elected to the State Duma for the party United Russia.[4]
On 7 November 2022, a car driven by Borodai was nearly struck by a French land mine HPD-2A2 in the Kherson region. The security vehicle in front of his was reportedly hit by the land mine, blowing out windows and tires. Video showed a camouflaged HPD-2A2 which his own vehicle missed by "millimetres".[31]