The Russian commander often known as “the Butcher of Mariupol” has been faraway from his place, in line with a Russian conflict correspondent.
Colonel-Common Mikhail Mizintsev has garnered a repute for ruthless brutality in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He’s notably related to the bombardment of the southern port metropolis of Mariupol, which Moscow claimed in Might 2022.
Mizintsev was appointed deputy protection minister for logistics in late September 2022, state media reported.
He has now been “fired” from his place, in line with a Telegram submit from Alexander Sladkov, a correspondent for the state-run newspaper Izvestia.
“Mikhail Mizintsev has had an fascinating destiny this 12 months,” Sladkov wrote on Thursday, describing the commander as a “pal.”
He added that Mizintsev had “had no direct relation to the storming of town” of Mariupol.
In a follow-up submit, Sladkov stated Alexei Kuzmenkov, reportedly the deputy head of Russia’s Nationwide Guard, would exchange Mizintsev within the logistics position.
The Russian army blogger, WarGonzo, additionally posted on Telegram about Mizintsev’s dismissal.
AFP through Getty Photos/NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA
Earlier than taking the protection ministry position, Mizintsev had been head of the Nationwide Protection Administration Middle since December 2014.
On March 31, 2022, he was sanctioned by the British authorities for his “reprehensible” actions.
“Mizintsev is the Chief of the Nationwide Defence Command and Management Centre, the place all Russian army operations are deliberate and managed worldwide,” the U.Okay. authorities stated on the time.
“Mizintsev is understood for utilizing reprehensible techniques, together with shelling civilian centres in each Aleppo in 2015-16 and now in Mariupol—the place atrocities are being perpetuated towards Ukrainian individuals.”
Mizintsev was born in 1962, in line with the Kremlin-backed Tass information company, and graduated from the Kalinin Suvorov Army Faculty in 1980.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian protection ministry for remark.
It is a creating story and will likely be up to date shortly.