4.1.22
For years, Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev was an obscure figure in Russia’s sprawling military leadership. But over the past week, he has become well-known under a startling moniker: “the Butcher of Mariupol.” Ukrainian officials and activists have accused Mizintsev of orchestrating a siege of the southern Ukrainian port city that, according to its mayor, has killed thousands of civilians and leveled residential buildings. “This is Mikhail Mizintsev. He is leading the siege of Mariupol. … He has huge experience of destroying cities in Syria,” Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, tweeted last week over a photo of the 59-year-old general, a man with close-cropped gray hair and pale blue eyes. Mizintsev, who heads Russia’s National Defense Control Center, was placed under sanctions Thursday by the British government, which said he was “linked to the planning and execution of the bombardment of Mariupol, among other key Russian military operations against Ukraine.” The Russian military officer has been dubbed “the butcher of Mariupol,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement.
The United States has not imposed sanctions on Mizintsev. However, Britain’s Foreign Office said he was “known for using reprehensible tactics, including shelling civilian centers in both Aleppo in 2015-16 and now in Mariupol — where atrocities are being perpetuated against Ukrainian people.” The destruction of Mariupol has drawn comparisons with the siege of Aleppo in 2016, when Russian forces helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crush rebels there in an eight-month campaign that featured the use of cluster bombs, chemical weapons and other banned munitions, in addition to heavy shelling and conventional airstrikes. Giles, the Chatham House expert, said Mizintsev was a surprising figure to take the brunt of the blame for the attack on Mariupol, given his background. But that does not necessarily mean he was not responsible, Giles said. “I find it hard to believe that, given the visibility into Russian operations that the U.S. and the U.K. have proven through their intelligence disclosures, that accusation can’t be based on something substantial.”
