Russian Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev earned the nickname “butcher of Mariupol” for being the architect of the harrowing attack on the Ukrainian city besieged by Kremlin troops.
Ukraine assured that Mizintsev planned a similar attack on the city of Aleppo (Syria), which was torn apart by bombs.
Russian forces, which joined Bashar al-Assad in his efforts to recover Syria from various rebel groups - some of them backed by the West - that had divided the country during the civil war, helped the dictator to besiege and eventually reconquer the northwestern city of Aleppo from the troops of the Free Syrian Army. In total, the battle to retake the city lasted more than four years, but the most intense period occurred at the end of 2016, when Russian and Syrian forces surrounded the eastern half while 270,000 civilians remained inside and bombed it for months before deploying troops and tanks to capture it.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that at least 23,000 civilians died during this period, although the exact number is difficult to obtain and could be higher. Military analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said the siege was “marked by an unprecedented degree of savagery and suffering.”
Russian forces used cluster bombs, chemical weapons and incendiary bombs - all prohibited by international charters - during the siege. Hospitals were shown to have been systematically attacked, and were eventually completely destroyed in the bombings. Frequent ceasefires were declared, but pauses in fighting were often used by Russian and Syrian forces to rearm and reposition themselves before resuming the assault. Others were not respected at all, or were used for propaganda purposes, accusing the rebels of violating them as a pretext to redouble the attacks.
In the end, humanitarian corridors were offered to civilians wishing to escape the fighting, and although thousands of them managed to flee, others said they were arrested trying to get out, while some were executed or died along supposedly “safe” routes. Observers documented more than 100 summary executions during the siege, while the Syrian Human Rights Network stated that nearly 2,500 people were arbitrarily detained and tortured, dozens of them children.
The population of Mariupol is suffering a similar fate, albeit on a larger scale. Before the Russian invasion, this strategic port had 400,000 inhabitants. It is estimated that about 150,000 managed to flee. Those killed by the bombings could be more than 20,000, including the babies and women in labor of the city's main maternity hospital and the hundreds who took refuge in the drama theater that were torn apart by the bombs.
Mizintsev, 59, holds one of the highest military positions in Russia and reports directly to Vladimir Putin. He is the head of the National Center for Defense Management (NDCC), which Russia created in 2014 to lead future military operations. It also controls a large part of the army hackers working on the Astra Linux and Rusbitech systems.
Mizintsev was born during the height of power of the Soviet Union, in a village located about 650 kilometers from Moscow.
He studied at the Kiev High School of Combined Arms Command before becoming commander of a Soviet army reconnaissance platoon in East Germany, the same region where Putin operated as a KGB agent.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Mizintsev deployed to the Caucasus to command a motorized rifle battalion.
His return to Moscow in the late 1990s led to a rapid rise, culminating in a position in 2003 as chief of operations of the Chief of Staff, a role entrusted to him with military planning tasks, according to Fox News.
The colonel general came to light last week when he launched the Russian ultimatum to the Mariupol authorities: “Put down your arms. All who do so will be guaranteed safe passage outside the city. The municipal authorities have the opportunity to make a decision and side with the people. Otherwise, the military court that awaits them will be only a small part of what they deserve for the terrible crimes committed that the Russian side is carefully documenting.”
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