Valery Bolotov | |
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Valery Bolotov in 2014.
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People's Governor of the Luhansk People's Republic | |
In office 18 May 2014 – 14 August 2014 |
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Prime Minister |
Vasily Nikitine Marat Bashirov (Acting) |
Deputy | Sergey Tsyplakov |
Succeeded by | Igor Plotnitsky (as President) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Taganrog, Rostov oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR (or Stakhanov, Voroshilovgrad Oblast, Ukrainian SSR) |
February 13, 1970
Died | 27 January 2017 Moscow, Russia |
(aged 46)
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance |
Soviet Union Luhansk People's Republic |
Service/branch | Airborne Troops |
Years of service | 1988–90 2014–17 |
Rank | Senior sergeant (see staff sergeant) |
Valery Dmitrievitch Bolotov (Russian: Вале́рий Дми́триевич Бо́лотов; IPA: [vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈbolətəf], Ukrainian: Вале́рій Дми́трович Бо́лотов; 13 February 1970 – 27 January 2017) was a Russian militant leader known for his involvement in the Donbass War in eastern Ukraine, and as the leader of the unrecognized Lugansk People's Republic.
The biography of Bolotov before the 2014 is very scarce. There is a video which shows that Bolotov participated in voting at a local referendum and showed a Ukrainian passport which indicated that he was born in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast on 13 February 1970. According to other sources, Bolotov was born in Stakhanov. Bolotov moved to Stakhanov in the Luhansk Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine in 1974. According to the Russia Today, he held two university degrees.
Bolotov claimed to be a senior sergeant of the Soviet Airborne Troops in Vitebsk (presumably the 103rd Guards Airborne Division) and between 1989 and 1990 participated in a number of conflicts including Tbilisi, Yerevan and Karabakh. He later became the head of the airborne veterans group, while no one of the Luhansk Oblast group cell can confirm it. Bolotov had a wife and two children.
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 who supervised illegal mining in the region.