Igor Mangushev

Igor Mangushev
Igor Mangushev
Игорь Мангушев
	Mangushev in Russian-occupied Ukraine, c. 2023
Born	Igor Leonidovich Mangushev; 16 August 1986; Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	8 February 2023 (aged 36); Kadiivka, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine
Nationality	Russian
Years active	2009–2023
Employer	Internet Research Agency
Organization(s)	Svetlaya Rus; E.N.O.T. Corp.
Call sign	Bereg (Берег)
Military career
Allegiance	Luhansk PR; Russia
Service/branch	E.N.O.T. Corp.; Russian Ground Forces
Years of service	2014–2023
Battles/wars	Russo-Ukrainian War War in Donbas; Russian invasion of Ukraine ; ; Central African Republic Civil War Wagner Group activities in the Central African Republic; ;

Igor Leonidovich Mangushev (Russian: Игорь Леонидович Мангушев; 16 August 1986 – 8 February 2023) was a Russian mercenary and political strategist. A prominent figure within the Kremlin, he was a hardline Russian nationalist and is known for having founded Svetlaya Rus in 2009 and E.N.O.T. Corp. in 2011.

Born in Moscow six years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mangushev became affiliated with far-right politics in his youth and also worked in Russia to advance the Kremlin's objectives internationally, including through his time at the Internet Research Agency. His E.N.O.T. Corp. was a private military company that had been active in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian-occupied territories, and Syria, while also having a presence in the Balkans. In 2014, Mangushev was stationed in Luhansk Oblast as a captain among Ukraine's Russian separatists during the War in Donbas. He also fought in the Central African Republic Civil War as a mercenary and worked alongside Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was overseeing Wagner Group activities in Africa. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he took part in as an officer of an anti-drone warfare platoon, he attracted international attention for an August 2022 public speech in which he brandished a human skull that he said belonged to a Ukrainian soldier who had been killed during the Russian siege of Mariupol.

Amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War, Mangushev characterized Ukraine as an "anti-Russian state" and advocated the destruction of the Ukrainian national identity, and had "dreamed of seeing Kyiv burning";^[1] he claimed to have been the inventor of the Russian militarist Z symbol and had frequently been photographed while posing with the Nazi salute. In February 2023, he was killed at a Russian checkpoint in the Ukrainian city of Kadiivka. His death has been described as an assassination, as he was shot in the back of his head at close range.

^ Sochnev, Aleksey (21 March 2023). ""Он мечтал увидеть горящий Киев". Вдова капитана Игоря Мангушева — о его загадочной смерти, бездействии следователей и черепе с "Азовстали"" ["He dreamed of seeing Kiev burning". The widow of Captain Igor Mangushev - about his mysterious death, inaction of investigators and the skull from Azovstal.]. RTVI (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.

[:10-1] Sochnev, Aleksey (21 March 2023). ""Он мечтал увидеть горящий Киев". Вдова капитана Игоря Мангушева — о его загадочной смерти, бездействии следователей и черепе с "Азовстали"" ["He dreamed of seeing Kiev burning". The widow of Captain Igor Mangushev - about his mysterious death, inaction of investigators and the skull from Azovstal.]. RTVI (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.

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