Mikhail Mizintsev – A Russian Colonel-General Accused of Committing the Worst Atrocities in Ukraine and Syria

He is nicknamed Putin's favorite Colonel General, and is known for being one of the most prominent officials responsible for Russian military operations in Syria, as well as being the architect of the siege and bombardment of the city of Mariupol in the military attack on Ukraine that began on February 24.

Western media recently revealed that Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev is the supervisor of the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, depriving about 200 thousand civilians of food, water and electricity for more than a month, amid ruthless bombing that killed thousands of civilians.

Through his leadership role in the Russian Ministry of Defense, it is also possible that Mizintsev helped formulate Russia's military strategy in Syria, including the bloody siege of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which parallels frighteningly with the horror inflicted on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to press reports.

 

Military Origin

Mikhail Mizintsev was born in Vologda Oblast, Russia in 1962, and graduated from the Suvorov Military Preparatory School in 1980, then entered the Kyiv Combined Arms Command College, from which he graduated in 1984.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mizintsev led the Russian forces in the Caucasus region, and worked in the Main Operations Department of the General Staff until 2001.

Later, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Moscow Military District, then assumed command of the region in 2009, and became head of the Central Command Center of the General Staff in 2012.

In 2014, Russia established the National Defense Control Center (NDCC), which was known as the Supreme Command Center of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Armed Forces, and it appointed Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev as its head.

The Center is considered the second highest authority responsible for the management and supervision of the Ministry of Defense, after the Minister himself and is directly subordinate to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and is supervised by the Chief of the General Staff.

According to information published on the Russian Ministry of Defense’s website, during the Russian military operation in Syria, Mizintsev headed a ministerial coordination body responsible for the return of refugees to Syria.

The Russian Gen. was also awarded several military honors throughout his service, including the Crimea Recovery Medal.

Mizintsev also supervised the efforts to establish more than 1,450 military facilities, radars and communications equipment in the Arctic, according to what Interfax reported in 2015.

The Russian Ministry of Defense had announced that the establishment of this structure in the Arctic would warn Russia of any military movements in the north and ensure a rapid response when needed, according to the Siberian Times.

While Canada put the Colonel General’s name on a list of economic sanctions immediately after the launch of the Russian operation in Ukraine, the Canadian Minister of Defense said in a speech he delivered in March 2022 that “Russia has reoccupied abandoned Cold War bases in the Far North, diverting attention to what could well become the coldest war, in every sense of the word.”

 

Butcher Of Mariupol

Ukrainian officials have accused the high-ranking military Colonel General of committing the worst atrocities during the Russian invasion, including an airstrike on a maternity hospital, nicknamed the "Butcher of Mariupol," the New York Post reported on March 23, 2022.

“The Ukrainian Military spokesman, Sergey Bratchuk, confirmed that the ongoing attack on Mariupol was personally supervised by Mizintsev,” the newspaper said.

Adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Herashchenko, described Col. Gen. Putin's favorite, who gave the order to shoot at civilian targets in Mariupol.

The former Ukrainian ambassador to Austria, Olexander Scherba, described Mizintsev as the "Butcher of Mariupol."

“This is Mikhail Mizintsev, remember him.” Thus the head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties Aleksandroy Matveychuk tweeted and posted a photo of the colonel who heads the NDCC.

The Ukrainian human rights defender spoke about the city, which has been witnessing continuous Russian air strikes for weeks, saying: “He is leading the siege of Mariupol. He is the one who ordered the bombing of the Children's Hospital, the theater, and others. His great experience in destroying cities in Syria. We will take good care of him in The Hague (the seat of the International Court of Justice).”

The Russian raid on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, on March 16, resulted in the killing of children and pregnant women, while the second raid destroyed the theater, which housed more than 1,300 civilians, and killed 300 of them, according to Human Rights Watch.

Conversely, Russian officials have claimed that images of bloodied pregnant women from actresses and that the maternity hospital and drama theater housed neo-Nazi soldiers.

It is noteworthy that more than 2,400 civilians have been killed in the besieged city of Mariupol, which is being bombed daily since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, according to Ukrainian officials.

However, it was confirmed that Mizintsev was playing a leading role in the operations in Mariupol, blaming Ukrainian forces for causing a horrific humanitarian disaster.

As well as his alleged promise on March 20 to guarantee the safe exit of all those who laid down their weapons from Mariupol, which Ukrainians described as Russian deception, refusing the option of surrender and laying down weapons.

A day after the city refused a Russian ultimatum to lay down weapons and surrender to Russian forces, in exchange for safe passage out of the city, Mizintsev made the city's streets like hell.

However, the Kremlin did not reveal who was leading the invasion in Mariupol, although it confirmed that Mizintsev was playing a leading role in the operations, according to the New York Post.

 

Col. Gen. With A Bloody Tactic

The scene of the destroyed Mariupol buildings is reminiscent of the scenes of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which was reduced to rubble 6 years ago, and this is no coincidence because Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev- 59 years old - has been primarily responsible for directing Russian military operations since 2014.

There are clear parallels between the military tactics employed by forces under Mizintsev's command in Ukraine (top photo) and Aleppo (bottom photo), which was completely devastated in 2016, according to The Times.

During the Russian military intervention in Syria, it was said that General Mizintsev was one of the most prominent military figures responsible for this military operation, and activists called him ‘Warlord from afar’, then he assumed the presidency of a government coordination body responsible for the return of refugees to Syria.

During the military operation in Syria, Russia used bloody tactics similar to those it is now using in its war against Ukraine.

The Syrian war has also served as a military test ground for the Russian army, helped develop remote weapons systems, and contributed to boosting Russian arms sales.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had also boasted of testing more than 300 new types of weapons in Syria and Ukraine, claiming that they had used new hypersonic missiles for the first time.

The Syrian regime headed by Bashar al-Assad had submitted an official request to Putin to obtain the assistance of the Russian army in July 2015 to confront the opposition in the war that has erupted since 2011.

At that time, the Russian military forces used a scorched-earth policy, targeting everything including residential neighborhoods and infrastructure in order to level them to the ground like carpets by means of intense bombardment with aircraft and artillery.

In addition, Russia also adopted city sieges during its intervention in Syria, as it, along with the Assad regime, imposed a tight siege on the city of Aleppo and prevented humanitarian aid from reaching civilians.

Russia helped the Assad regime besiege and retake the city of Aleppo from the opposition forces in a battle that lasted more than eight months.

During the siege of the city, which is teeming with civilians, the Russian forces used internationally prohibited weapons such as cluster, incendiary and chemical bombs, which left about 1640 civilians dead.

In late 2020, General Mizintsev called for the dismantling of the camps for the displaced in Syria, according to what was reported by the Russian media at the time.

At the time, he claimed that armed groups use them to recruit fighters, take civilians as hostages and human shields, and that they are responsible for the aggravation of the situation in Idlib, just as it is doing recently in Ukraine.

Mizintsev also announced that Russia will allocate more than $1 billion for the reconstruction of electrical networks, industries and other humanitarian purposes in Syria, in addition to supporting efforts to restore archaeological sites and others.