Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi). A photo: Frame youtube.com
Updated: 02/08/2017
Armed Forces of the DPR He was killed in Donetsk as a result of a terrorist act. According to one version, a Shmel flamethrower was used against him, according to another version, a mine worked.
Dossier
Mikhail Sergeevich Tolstykh (callsign Givi) was born on July 19, 1980 in Ilovaisk, Ukrainian SSR. He took the nickname "Givi" while serving in the Ukrainian army in honor of his grandfather, who fought during the Great Patriotic War.
In 1998-2000 he served in armed forces Ukraine, in the training center "Desna". Military specialty - tank commander. Then he worked as an industrial climber, was a diesel loader driver at a rope factory.
Since May 2014, he took part in the battles for Slovyansk. In the summer of 2014, he took part in the battles for Ilovaisk. Since September 2014, he took part in the battles for the Donetsk airport.
On March 19, 2015, an assassination attempt was made on Givi. Mikhail was not injured, but his car was damaged.
On June 23, 2016, the Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine announced that it suspects Mikhail Tolstykh of committing criminal offenses under Part 1 of Art. 258-3 (creation of a terrorist organization, leadership and participation in it) Part 2 of Art. 28, part 2 of Art. 437 (complicity in the conduct of an aggressive war) Part 2 of Art. 28, part 1, art. 438 (ill-treatment of prisoners of war) part 2 of article 146 (illegal imprisonment or kidnapping) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and intends to start a trial in absentia of the commander of the "Somalia" battalion of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.
Personal life
Not married.
Hobby
He is fond of football and boxing. Since the age of 13, he has been a fan of the Donetsk team Shakhtar. Favorite football player - Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo.
Awards
He was awarded various awards of the DPR, including: 2 St. George's crosses and the medal "For the Defense of Slavyansk". On February 24, 2015 he was awarded the Order of the Hero of the DPR.
However, for ATO participants and people from Donbass, this name evokes completely different associations associated with war, murders, torture and separatism. "Givi" is the call sign of the field commander of one of the terrorist gangs of militants, who is known in narrow circles as Mikhail Tolstykh. And the fact is that this person has no ties with Georgia at all. Then who is he really, a militant with the call sign "Givi", and what role does he play in the development of separatism and terrorism in eastern Ukraine?
Biographical information
The field commander of the Donetsk separatists Mikhail Tolstykh was born on July 19, 1980 in the city of Ilovaisk Donetsk region where he received his secondary technical education. According to official information, in 1998-2000, Mikhail Tolstykh served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the Desna training center, in the 92nd regiment. Military specialty - tank commander. According to a separatist journalist English origin Graham Phillips, after the army, Mikhail Tolstykh worked as an industrial climber. Tolstoy himself is not an ethnic Georgian, however, according to a resident of Georgia, Gia Berai, the great-grandfather of "Givi" was a Georgian, which is why the militant received such a nickname.
Little is known about the militant leader's family. According to the timeua.com portal, refugees from Ilovaisk, about the same age as Mikhail Tolstykh, report that, as their parents told them, Givi's father came home to Ilovaisk after another term in prison and did not work anywhere, drank a lot and plentifully , and also with enviable constancy and methodicalness beat his wife. The portal reports that allegedly Givi's mother also drank for a long time, then simply disappeared without a trace when the future terrorist was barely 18 years old. But this information, spread by timeua.com, is refuted by other separatists and the field commander of the militants himself.
As a child, according to refugees from Ilovaisk, Mikhail Tolstykh grew up withdrawn and unsociable. In children's companies, he was not accepted because of his slovenliness and cruelty, which he splashed out on stray animals. At school, for these reasons, the future terrorist was constantly humiliated by high school students, he had no friends, and since he did not want to study, he spent most of his time around the city in abandoned houses and buildings, where he found solace in solitude. This information was shared with the portal elise.com.ua by Donetsk blogger Elkham Abubakirov. According to the blogger, Mikhail Tolstykh was actually not taken into the army due to obvious speech defects at that time and problems from the field of psychiatry. According to Abubakirov, it is not known when "Givi" first tried drugs, but his peers claim that it was still around 7-8 grades, when Mikhail, persecuted by high school students, fled to the outskirts of the city, which were replete with drug addict nests and the so-called "raspberries" freed "convicts". It was then, according to the Donetsk blogger, that the future "lieutenant colonel" began to take marijuana. According to the blogger Abubakirov, Mikhail began to drink alcohol in significant quantities a little later, especially after he was "rejected" by the military commissar for military service. During that period, "Givi" was often seen dead drunk. According to a Donetsk blogger, a local businessman nicknamed "Arsen" hired him as an area cleaner and assistant car washer to his car service.
"Arsen" (in the world - Arsen Targonsky), according to the recollections of refugees from Ilovaisk, was a kind man. He treated his employees fairly liberally and even helped them when they had problems. He also helped the future "Givi", arranging him to live in a dilapidated local hostel on the outskirts of the city. It is reported that "Arsen" provided Mikhail with the most basic things in the form of primitive dishes and clothes.
Around 2008-2009, another event happened in the life of Mikhail Tolstykh. Once Mikhail was instructed to wipe the dust in the interior of the new car of the local crime boss "Ryzhy's Sleigh". "Sanya the Red" (aka Alexander Rakhimov) was a cruel man. After serving his juvenile sentence for rape and returning to Ilovaisk, Rakhimov went into the service of local authorities, who for a long time used him as a "torpedo" and "bull" during "showdowns". Surviving and collecting capital, "Sanya Ryzhiy" opened a couple of shops and a nightclub (diner) in Dokuchaevsk. The time will come when the disfigured corpse of Rakhimov, torn to pieces by stray dogs, will be found in the steppe not far from Dokuchaevsk, he will first be kidnapped and then brutally killed by unknown militants along with his underage son. According to Elkham Abubakirov, on the day of the murder, the crime boss drove his anger at Mikhail Tolstykh by beating him in a car service. The blogger reports that in 2011 Mikhail Tolstykh was arrested for stealing a bicycle and placed in a temporary detention center. After that, according to Abubakirov, "Givi" worked for some time as a loader in a store and as a cleaner in a car parking lot.
However, it is hard to say how true this information, presented by the Donetsk blogger Elkham Abubakirov, is true. Actually, we will be able to find out the truth only after the end of the war and the liberation of Donbass from the combined Russian-separatist forces.
According to Nadezhda Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin, Mikhail Tolstykh used to sell vodka. "Yesterday I learned that in past life"Givi" not only guarded the store, but also traded vodka at the railway station," Feigin said.
According to Artem Rodari, a journalist for the militant TV channel Studio Aurora, citing an interview with Mikhail Tolstykh, Givi actually worked as a security guard in a supermarket. The field commander of the separatists states that, having returned from the army in 2000, he moved to the city of Kremenchug, Poltava region, where, in fact, he worked at the plant. However, due to his mother's illness, he was subsequently forced to return to Ilovaisk. The last place of work of the field commander before the war was the Khartsyzsk rope plant "Silur", where he worked as a driver of a diesel loader.
Separatist commander Mikhail Tolstykh is a supporter of former President Viktor Yanukovych's policies, arguing that he had a better life under his term, salaries were paid on time and there was little corruption. "Givi", succumbing to Russian propaganda, believed that the Euromaidan seemed to have been organized by the United States. In his opinion, if the Ukrainian people themselves did this, and not the mythical "decree of America", he would support these actions. Events on the Maidan, provocations Russian special services in Odessa and Mariupol led Tolstykh to believe in the existence of mythical "fascists" and "juntas", which were artificially created with the help of mass propaganda of the Russian Federation in order to clash the Ukrainian people of the polar political views. Although, it is noteworthy, Tolstykh had already joined the militant gangs on May 1 in the city of Slavyansk, while the events in Odessa and Mariupol happened on May 2 and 9, respectively.
In Slavyansk, he joins an illegal armed group of militants, created by combining a sabotage group led by Igor Girkin and local separatists. In the occupied city, a militant is subordinate to a terrorist with the call sign "Taran", the commander of the so-called "armored group". From that moment on, Mikhail Tolstykh began active work in militant gangs. At the same time, the mother of the separatist supported his participation in the gangs, his father opposed, not believing in the victory of the so-called. "DNR".
Terrorist Mikhail Tolstykh does not like to talk about his personal life. And yet, in an interview with one of the local publications, he spoke about his problems.
“I don’t live in virtuality - I live in reality. Being next to me is very dangerous. Even being in the same car with me is also dangerous. There have already been three assassination attempts, and I have no right to risk human lives. As for my personal life, I don’t have it ", and I didn’t have any wedding. Now, as I was, I remain a lonely person. To my great regret, I’ll be honest. It doesn’t work out with my personal life, "Givi admitted.
A journalist asked him about a noisy birthday party in which Tolstoy danced with many girls, which was captured in a photo by Graham Philips. But "Givi" said that he did not call any of these girls and did not offer anything, although, he stressed, this does not mean that he did not want to do this. In addition, "Givi" answered the question of what he would do after the war. The Somali commander replied that he himself did not know and did not plan yet.
"On this moment I have nowhere to go and no one to go back to. My home is my battalion, our barracks and the front line," Givi said.
In an interview with separatist media, the field commander of the militants said that his hobbies are football and boxing. Supports Shakhtar and Real Madrid teams.
Donetsk separatists with the call sign "Givi" support the policies of Vladimir Putin, are a supporter of Vladimir Zhirinovsky and advocate the occupation of the entire Donbass by the Russian Federation.
The militant commander also has page on the social network VKontakte, where he often posts information, popularizes the activities of the separatists, Russia and the combined Russian-separatist forces.
According to the information of the militants, Mikhail Tolstykh is a "lieutenant colonel" of the so-called "armed forces of Novorossiya", the commander of the so-called "first separate battalion-tactical group" Somalia ".
Acquaintance with Zakharchenko
The field commander of the separatists "Givi" first met the current leader of the self-proclaimed "DPR" during a report on the situation in Ilovaisk to the "Minister of Defense of the DPR" Vladimir Kononov, known by the call sign "Tsar". This happened in August 2014 in Shakhtersk. By that time, the leader of the militants, A. Zakharchenko, headed the Oplot separatist gang. The consolidated brigade at that time was commanded directly by "Tsar". Under the leadership of the field commander "Givi" then there were about 70 militants.
During an acquaintance with the future head of the so-called. "DPR", organized by V. Kononov, "Givi" received a unit of artillery from him. Mikhail Tolstykh himself actively supports and constantly praises the policy of the leader of the so-called. "DPR" Alexander Zakharchenko.
Moreover, the field commander of the separatists "Givi", playing along with Russian propaganda, continues to state that the terrorists held the city of Ilovaisk in the amount of 170 militants and with the 1st unit of the Nona artillery mount, allegedly received from Alexander Zakharchenko. The militant, working for the image of Russian propaganda, continues to declare the absence of the Russian army in the Ilovaisk cauldron. And "Nona" offers the aforementioned installation to create a monument in Ilovaisk.
Participation in torture and abuse
Terrorist field commander Mikhail Tolstykh is widely known on the Internet for his abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war and patriots of Ukraine. On the Internet you can find many video links confirming this information:
Forced to eat the chevrons of captured soldiers at the airport. It was Givi who mocked the captured "cyborgs" led by Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Kuzminykh;
mockery of officers;
Demonstrative bullying of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Ilovaisk, along with "Kadyrovtsy" and others.
On April 7, 2015, the representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Assistant Chief of the General Staff Tatyana Rychkova, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, stated that Mikhail Tolstykh, better known as "Givi", the commander of the "Somalia" battalion, exponentially shot wounded Ukrainian soldiers at the Donetsk airport.
“I know that the separatists just finished off our guys. The fighters of the 25th brigade are not taken prisoner at all, they are killed right away. It was Givi who started it. , one of those who still know with honor that prisoners are not killed. He said: "That jerk shot your kid in a show."
At the same time, the commander of the terrorist gang, Mikhail Tolstykh, is quite cruel to the militants who are part of the illegal armed group he leads, known as "Somalia". A terrorist could easily publicly beat his subordinate militants and throw them "into the basement."
The Ukrainian military and partisans have repeatedly tried to destroy the commander of the terrorists, who is guilty of murders and abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war, but the militant has so far come out "dry from the water."
So, in March of this year, an assassination attempt was made on the well-known terrorist Mikhail Tolstykh, nicknamed "Givi", about which the militant himself told the Russian propaganda channel LifeNews. According to Givi, the attack was committed on March 19, when he was leaving Makeyevka. The car was fired at least 12 rounds of 5.45 mm caliber. The terrorist said that he managed to jump out of the car on the move: “I managed to jump out of the car and it was already rolling on its own. We counted 12 hits on the car. Zakharchenko opened fire, but they took off and drove towards the bypass road.
In June 2015, information was circulated that the terrorist was killed during hostilities, but the militant brazenly called during the live broadcast of the 112 TV channel and denied this statement.
Public activity of the militant
Despite the participation of the militant in the torture, sadism and murders of the Ukrainian military and patriots of Ukraine, Russian propaganda continues to promote the image of the terrorist field commander, as well as the well-known Motorola. The militants make "heroes" of the so-called mythical "militia", popularize their activities among the Russian audience. On the Internet, Russian and separatist media broadcast the participation of a militant in a staged military parade on May 9, as well as a bombastic celebration of the terrorist commander's birthday.
According to Informator, at the end of May 2015, information appeared that a group of terrorists led by "Givi" with weapons visited the Donetsk railway station in order to recruit "volunteers" in gangs and for digging trenches. However, the militants received fierce resistance from both women and men. At the same time, they boldly spoke to his face about the negative attitude towards the "liberators" and criticized the activities of the Russian occupiers. Most of the women said they were going to Kyiv. This wildly outraged "Givi", who left the station with obscenities without agitating anyone. At the same time, he wished people with other views to die from a direct hit by a projectile.
“Civilians show disrespect for people in uniform. Although, on the one hand, we ourselves are to blame here, “other militias”, as I call such people. ", all of them. It's a pity. And when the massacre begins, when shelling, everyone hopes that the Rostov battalion, the Somali battalion survived and held out, then they are for us, in my opinion. And so - we are number one enemies for them, why "Something has become. Well, this is my opinion, at least I say it the way it is. They start accusing of something, they start writing some kind of criminal cases there," the militant with the call sign "Givi" admitted.
In general, Russian propaganda is actively using the commander of the terrorists "Givi" in order to wage an information war against Ukraine. As part of the information sabotage of the Russian special services, the militant spreads the opinion that the allegedly occupied territory of the Donetsk region will never return to Ukraine, and the terrorists will seize the entire administrative part of the Donetsk region.
In mid-September, the commander of the Givi militants once again announced for Russian propaganda that there were mythical foreign mercenaries in Avdiivka and that he did not want to comply with the Minsk agreements.
"Dereno, Avdeevka, Lastochkino - the information about the influx of mercenaries skips everywhere. There are" blacks "in Lastochkino, sorry, African American. They repeatedly entered Avdeevka," Givi said, as part of the propaganda of the Russian media.
However, residents of Avdiivka told Novosti Donbass reporters by phone that foreigners fighting on the side of the Ukrainian army had never been seen in Avdiivka and Lastochkino.
In September 2015, the solemn presentation of membership cards of the separatist movement "Donetsk Republic" to the militants of the "Ministry of Defense" of the separatist "republic" took place. Alexander Zakharchenko personally presented membership cards. Mikhail Tolstykh was among the new "DPR" activists who received tickets.
However, not all militants like open public activity. In particular, the leader Russian terrorists Igor Girkin, criticizing the activities of Mikhail Tolstykh, said that he was not a talented commander, but had become only a "media star" for the Russian media. According to Girkin, Tolstykh was a militant driver in Slavyansk and only thanks to the Russian media has he become what he is now.
Gang "Somalia"
The name of the bandit formation, headed by the field commander of the militants "Givi", is known to many today due to the active media use of the terrorist by Russian propaganda. The commander of the terrorists, Mikhail Tolstykh, heads "the first separate battalion-tactical group" Somalia ".
According to Information Resistance, "the first separate battalion-tactical group" Somalia "consists of approximately 300-350 militants. The structure of the bandit formation: 1st detachment of the mouth, 2nd detachment of the mouth; tank unit, approximately companies of regular strength, artillery group, which brought together several mortar, anti-tank and artillery units. type T-64B and T-64BV, T-72A and T-72BA, according to some reports, there are 1-2 units of T-72B3; BBM - BMP-1.2, BTR-70.80, MT-LB, BRDM- 2; artillery and mortars 6-8 units of 122-m guns D-30 - about 6 units of 122-mm self-propelled guns 2S1 "Gvozdika", 4 units of 100-mm anti-tank guns MT-12 "Rapier", 6 - 152-mm guns "Msta-B", one and a half batteries of 82-mm and 120-mm mortars; ATGM, MANPADS, SPG-9, AGS-17.21, ZU-23-2 - in full assortment; small arms "full Russian ysko soviet spectrum"; transport is represented by army variations of KamazUral and a whole set of squeezed civilian equipment from jeeps to buses and trucks.
Known places of "application" of an illegal armed group of militants: the capture and retention of Slovyansk; fighting in Ilovaisk; DAP area.
On June 28, 2015, the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Donetsk region, Vyacheslav Abroskin, published a list of some militants of a separate battalion "Somalia" of the so-called "DPR", acting under the leadership of Mikhail Tolstykh ("Givi"). Basically, these are previously convicted residents of the Donetsk region.
"On the occupied by militants on the territory of a part of the Donetsk region, bandits "Somalia" are operating under the leadership of Mikhail Tolstykh, born in 1980, a resident of Ilovaisk, nicknamed "Givi". A "militia worker" who went from a parking attendant to a "lieutenant colonel of the DPR". "Givi" is known for its demonstrative interrogations of captured Ukrainian soldiers," Abroskin wrote on Facebook and added a list of terrorists. - Alexander Arepiev, born in 1989, resident of Makeevka. Evgeniy Asin, born in 1993, resident of Donetsk. Tolstoy's "colleague" from a previous job Vladislav Bilykh, born in 1993, resident of Khartsyzsk, was registered in the "children's room of the police" as a juvenile delinquent, was suspected of committing a robbery in 2009. Maxim Berezhnoy, born in 1994, resident of Dergachi, Kharkiv region. Vadim Bilenko , born in 1990, resident of Khartsyzsk Roman Borodin, born in 1994, resident of Donetsk Egor Volchkov, born in 1990, resident of Donetsk Held administrative responsibility Goncharov Gennady, born in 1975, resident of Novogrodovka Roman Gorokhov, born in 1990, resident of Donetsk Rinat Yesenaliev, born in 1992, resident of Donetsk Oleg Eskov, born in 1990, resident of Donetsk Zavorotinsky Yur ij, born in 1989, resident of Makeevka. In 2013, a suspicion was announced for possession of drugs. Ivanov Artem, born in 1985, resident of Zugres. Took administrative responsibility. Ismiyev Anton, born in 1988, resident of Kherson. Kaliberda Andrey, born in 1993, resident of Makeevka. Previously convicted. Kasyanov Vitaly, born in 1978, resident of Khartsyzsk. Previously convicted. Laznik Vladislav, born in 1995, resident of Donetsk. Twice brought to administrative responsibility. Lyubchenko Mikhail, born in 1994, resident of the Slavyansk region. In 2012, he was suspected of committing a robbery. Malakhov Mikhail, born in 1986, resident of Donetsk. We judge twice. Grenade launcher. Malyuk Roman, born in 1988, resident of Ilovaisk. Took administrative responsibility. Petrauskas Aleksey, born in 1992, resident of Selidovo. Took administrative responsibility. Podlesny Vladislav, born in 1994, resident of Donetsk. Radchenko Artem, born in 1984, resident of Makeevka. Rasulov Dmitry, born in 1991, resident of Donetsk. Took administrative responsibility. Solovyov Alexey, born in 1972, resident of Slavyansk, nickname "Nightingale". Starodubtsev Dmitry, born in 2001, resident of Donetsk. Sniper. Tarasenko Nikolai, born in 1991, resident of Ilovaisk. Took administrative responsibility. Tereshchenko Denis, born in 1979, resident of the Starobeshevsky district. In 2009, he was on trial for robbery. Titarenko Roman, born in 1988, resident of Pavlograd. They will not escape responsibility for their crimes. Their own "colleagues" in the gang from Russian Federation will be established despite attempts to hide behind nicknames."
In September, the timeua.com portal reported that the commander of the Somali militant detachment, Mikhail Tolstykh, was appointed head of a "separate assault battalion", which comes under the direct leadership of the leader of the "DPR" Alexander Zakharchenko. Preparation personnel Zakharchenko's personal guards, and that is what they called in social networks the separatists themselves, the newly created battalion under the leadership of "Givi", will be very different from the training of other militants of the "DPR". In addition to increased attention to physical training, important element will be the development of skills and coordination of actions of foot assault groups and cover technology in conditions of interaction at short distances, as well as in street battles. In this battalion of militants, a separate emphasis, on the instructions of Zakharchenko, will be placed on military operations in varying degrees of building height.
Potential assessment
The field commander of the militants "Givi" belongs to the category of so-called "media stars" among the leaders of the illegal armed formations of the Donetsk separatists. However, unlike Motorola, he is a less iconic media figure in the Russian propaganda media. The activities of the commander of the terrorist gang Mikhail Tolstykh, according to Igor Girkin, have recently been limited to propaganda pictures for the separatist media, and not to active participation in hostilities. The leader of the Russian terrorists, Igor "Strelkov", gives a low estimate of the military "talent" of Mikhail Tolstykh, adding that it was the Kremlin media who created the "hero" of the separatists from him. Compared to militant commander Arseny Pavlov, Igor Girkin does not consider Mikhail Tolstykh the leading commander of a separatist bandit formation.
The main risk for the militant with the call sign "Givi" is the threat of physical destruction by Ukrainian patriots or representatives of the special services because of the sadistic attitude towards prisoners of war and patriots of Ukraine. According to this indicator, Mikhail Tolstykh has common features with terrorist commander Arseny Pavlov.
To date, the main threat to terrorist commander Mikhail Tolstykh is the loss of media presence in the Russian propaganda media, which spent months creating the image of a "talented leader" of a terrorist detachment out of him. This turn of events will affect the authority of Givi among the separatists, which is maintained only thanks to information support pro-Kremlin media. Lacking, according to the militants themselves, great military talents, the loss of a presence in the media for Mikhail Tolstykh also means a gradual loss of his positions, a possible replacement, exclusion from the ranks of bandit formations, or even a "cleansing". The use of Mikhail Tolstoy by Russian propaganda is an element information war Russia vs Ukraine. Therefore, a change in the priorities of the Russian media in this approach will mean the end of the career of the Givi field commander. Also among the threats to Mikhail Tolstykh, one should note the possible arrest and show trial by representatives of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies with public coverage of the criminal activities of militants and the Russian military on the territory of Ukraine. This also poses a threat to the external "curators" of the Givi militant.
The vulnerabilities of Mikhail Tolstykh are: dependence on Russian propaganda; artificially created authority among local militants; hunting by Ukrainian partisans and law enforcement officers.
The resources of the field commander of the terrorists remain contacts with the Russian media, connections with the separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko.
The possibility of "cleansing" or destroying the field commander "Givi" in the given military-political conditions in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk region is assessed with low probability. The liquidation or arrest of Mikhail Tolstoy is possible only with a change of power in Donetsk to representatives more loyal to Rinat Akhmetov or the Ukrainian authorities, in which case the terrorist commanders can create real military-political opposition and threaten the new leadership. But the situation can change at any moment, as well as the attitude of external Russian "curators" towards him, even under the current collaborationist power of Alexander Zakharchenko.
Later, he was accused of organizing the murder of the Somali commander. “What else can they [in the DPR] say? What are they each other, excuse me, wet in the toilet? It’s clear that they need to blame someone, ”Avakov’s adviser told RBC.
Former tanker
As told in an interview, 36-year-old Tolstykh (originally from Ilovaisk, Donetsk region), he served as a tank commander in the Ukrainian army, where he took the call sign Givi in honor of his Georgian great-grandfather. Then Tolstykh worked as an industrial climber and driver at a rope factory.
With the outbreak of hostilities in the Donbass, he fought on the side of the forces of the self-proclaimed DPR near Slavyansk and was a member of the group of Igor Strelkov. But Tolstoy and his battalion became famous during the battles for the new terminal of the Donetsk airport. During many days of fighting, the Tolstoy detachment managed to occupy the ruins of the building, which was defended by the Ukrainian army. In addition, the Tolstoy detachment fought near Ilovaisk, where he participated in the encirclement of the Ukrainian group. In recent battles near Avdiivka, he was wounded.
Version of the Ukrainian trace
The leaders of the self-proclaimed republics are not yet in a hurry to comment on the death of the Tolstoys. One of the leaders of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, did not answer calls from RBC. According to the representative of the LPR in the Minsk negotiating group, Vladislav Deinego, he does not yet have any information about possible versions. Refused to comment on RBC and the former head of the DPR Alexander Boroday.
The State Duma believes that the Ukrainian side is behind the death of Tolstoy. “This fits into the general trend of Ukraine preparing an offensive in the Donbass,” Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs, United Russia, told RBC. He recalls that “literally the other day, the head of the LPR police was killed, Ukraine continues to pull equipment and forces to Avdiivka and shell Donetsk.” At the same time, Zatulin believes that Kyiv has not made a final decision on the offensive and they continue to watch the West's reaction to their actions.
A former DPR officer told RBC that Givi was always loyal to the authorities and his death could not be connected with a rebellion against the leadership of the unrecognized republic or Russian curators. On the other hand, in his opinion, although theoretically the Ukrainian sabotage group could have committed the murder using internal agents, Tolstykh is not a commander whose assassination will change the situation at the front. His media fame, on a par with Motorola, did not correspond to his real influence in the army, the source indicates.
Just like Motorola, Givi, according to RBC sources in the unrecognized republics, was not interested in politics and did not have his own people in the DPR parliament.
Russian trace version
“From a professional point of view, the murder of Tolstoy is the result of the disgusting work of the counterintelligence of the DPR,” — commented Strelkov on his VKontakte page. According to him, since the shot caught Givi in his office, it means that either the killers installed a surveillance camera inside the office, or they had agents in his close circle.
The preparedness of the killers is similar to the operation on Motorola, who died in a mined elevator in his own house. The plastite was fixed on the elevator cable, despite the fact that a watchman was sitting at the checkpoint.
According to Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko, “underground sabotage groups” associated with “Russian special services” could have made an attempt on Tolstoy’s life. “We have seen more than once a cleansing operation for internal reasons: for example, the liquidation of especially anarchist commanders Bednov and Dremov. version of the fight for - control financial flows also cannot be excluded. Perhaps, they simply remove the most odious figures. After negotiations with the West, Russia can also remove the leaders of the separatist republics Plotnitsky and Zakharchenko from their posts, ”he said in a comment to RBC.
Political scientist Vadim Karasev agrees with Fesenko. In his opinion, if their own people were involved in the death of the Tolstoy, this means that “there is a purge of military field commanders”, who are simply unnecessary in the course of a peaceful solution to the conflict, because they “just get in the way”.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov rejected the version of Moscow's involvement in the assassination attempt. “We absolutely and quite unambiguously rule out any [involvement], deny accusations against the Russian side about possible involvement in this, this is out of the question,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
If the attempt on Tolstoy's life is the secret services of Ukraine, then this is a blow to the most active military leaders of the DPR, which in turn can lead to demoralization of a number of military units of the self-proclaimed republic, Karasev notes. “The death of Givi symbolizes a fork in the road: either the process will shift towards negotiations and real political regulation, or vice versa - towards a sharp military escalation, to an outbreak of military violence, an attempt to resolve the conflict not so much diplomatically as by military means,” Karasev summed up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQPmz71le6c/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
A series of sweeps
The death of Mikhail Tolstykh was the second high-profile terrorist attack in the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass in recent times. On February 4 this year in Lugansk, the head of the People's Militia Department of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Oleg Anashchenko, died as a result of a car explosion.
One of the most high-profile terrorist attacks was the death of another prominent military leader of the DPR, the commander of the Sparta battalion, Russian Arsen Pavlov, known under the call sign Motorola. He was also at his home on October 16, 2016. Officially, the leaders of the DPR accused Ukrainian saboteurs of attempting to assassinate Pavlov, and later reported on the capture of a sabotage group that allegedly claimed responsibility for the liquidation of Pavlov.
Assassination attempts on the leaders of the field commanders of the DPR and LPR began in the summer of 2015. In early January 2015, the former Minister of Defense of the LPR Alexander Bednov, known as Batman, was killed. The LPR authorities then accused Bednov and his people of robbery, kidnapping and torture.
In May 2015, the commander of the Prizrak battalion, Alexei Mozgovoy, was killed. Officially, the authorities of the LPR accused the Ukrainian special services of liquidating him. Shortly before his death, Mozgovoy allowed himself open criticism of the Donetsk militia, stating that fighting for the fighters of the LNR "pure business". At the funeral of Mozgovoy, his associates told an RBC correspondent that they considered Igor Plotnitsky, leader of the LPR, to be guilty of his death.
In December 2015, the Cossack chieftain Pavel Dremov, another field commander who criticized Igor Plotnitsky, was killed.
The killings of LPR and DPR supporters continued in 2016. In early October, in the village of Slavyanoserbsk, Luhansk region, Armen Bagiryan (Buggy) was shot dead with several associates. And on September 19, Alexander Zhilin, the leader of the pro-Russian organization Oplot, was killed in the Moscow region. The Investigative Committee of Russia soon announced that the main version of the murder was Zhilin's commercial activities.
Mikhail Sergeevich Tolstykh(call sign - " Givi"; July 19, 1980, Ilovaisk, Ukrainian SSR) - commander of the DPR militia with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the DPR army (as of December 2014), who became famous as a result of the battles for Ilovaisk. The unit he led was called the Somalia battalion.
Mikhail Sergeevich Tolstykh
Nickname - Givi
Date of birth July 19, 1980
Place of birth Ilovaisk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Affiliation Ukraine DNR
Type of troops Donetsk People's Republic "People's militia of Donbass"
Years of service Ukraine 1998-2000 Donetsk People's Republic since 2014
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Commanded the Battalion "Somalia"
Battles/wars Armed conflict in eastern Ukraine
Confrontation in Slavyansk
Battles for Ilovaisk
Battles for Donetsk airport
"Givi" is a native of the city of Ilovaisk. In 1998-2000 he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the Desna training center. Military specialty - tank commander. Then he worked as an industrial climber, was a diesel loader driver at a rope factory.
Since May 2014, Mikhail Tolstykh took part in the battles for Slavyansk. In the summer of 2014, he took part in the battles for Ilovaisk. Since September 2014, he took part in the battles for the Donetsk airport.
On October 19, 2014, Mikhail Tolstykh ("Givi") turned to the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky with a request to provide " People's militia» vehicles for transporting the wounded. On October 28, Zhirinovsky sent a batch of Niva cars to the militias.
February 16, 2015 was included in the sanctions list of the European Union.
March 19, 2015 at Givi attempt was made. Mikhail was not injured, but his car was damaged.
Nationality of Mikhail Tolstoy ("Givi")
According to Givi, he is Russian, has Georgian roots from his great-grandfather. Nickname "Givi" took while serving in the Ukrainian army, in honor of his grandfather, who fought during the Great Patriotic War.
Mikhail Tolstoy awards ("Givi")
Awarded with various DPR awards, including: 2 St. George's cross and the medal "For the Defense of Slavyansk".
February 24, 2015 awarded the order"Hero of the DNR".
According to the Novorossiya Segodnya news agency, on March 2, 2015, Givi was awarded the medal "For the defense of the civilian population of Donetsk" by the representative of the Slovak Embassy Marian Farkas. Earlier, Farkas, who is an entrepreneur, sent several cargoes of humanitarian aid to Donetsk, and claimed that the opening of the Slovak embassy in the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic was being prepared, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Peter Susko, denied this statement, saying that Slovakia does not recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR.
The presence of Mikhail Tolstykh ("Givi") on the Internet
In social networks, Givi, as he himself and famous people communicating with him, no.
Cases of fraud have been recorded when people created pages on social networks under the name of Givi and asked to donate funds allegedly for the needs of the Donbas militia.
Battalion "Somalia" by Mikhail Tolstykh ("Givi")
Volunteer formation taking part in the hostilities in the east of Ukraine on the side of the DPR in the defense of Slavyansk, in the battles for Ilovaisk and in the protracted siege and further successful assault on the Donetsk airport during heavy fighting in September-October 2014.
One of the most famous militia commanders, Mikhail Tolstykh, was killed in the DPR
On Wednesday morning, February 8, tragic news came from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR): the commander of the Somalia battalion, Mikhail Tolstykh (call sign Givi), one of the most famous leaders of the militia, was killed. According to preliminary information, the battalion commander died as a result of an explosion at the base of the unit in the vicinity of Donetsk. As a source close to the DPR authorities told Lenta.ru, a shot from a Shmel flamethrower was fired into the Tolstoy's office. The prosecutor's office of the republic has already stated that it was a terrorist act carried out by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group. What battalion commander Givi became famous for, recalls Lenta.ru.
“I hate that I was born in Ukraine”
The commander of the famous military unit of the DPR "Somalia", Colonel Mikhail Tolstykh, contrary to a number of popular myths about his Russian roots, was in fact the "flesh of the flesh" of the Donbass. He was born in Ilovaisk and spent most of his life in the Donetsk region. The irony of fate is that the call sign "Givi", which inspired fear in the Kyiv security forces, was assigned to him during his service ... in the Ukrainian army. In one interview, Tolstykh said that he took it in honor of his grandfather, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. It must be said that Givi owes his military experience to his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). According to his official biography, in 1998-2000 he served in one of the main Ukrainian military training centers"Desna" majoring in "Tank Commander". In civilian life, Tolstykh worked as an industrial climber and a diesel loader driver at a factory.
After the outbreak of hostilities in the Donbass in the spring of 2014, he participated in almost all key events, starting with the defense of Slavyansk. He later said that he made the decision to join the militia almost immediately. An important factor was hostility to the Ukrainian domestic politics and leaders of the state, as well as respect for Russia, where Givi's numerous relatives and friends live. “I hate that I was born in Ukraine, but I am glad that I am in the Donbass,” he emphasized.
The battles for his native Ilovaisk in the summer of 2014 brought him real fame, which ended in a large-scale “cauldron” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, perhaps, the greatest defeat of the Ukrainian army during the entire period of hostilities in the Donbass. For courage and nerves of steel (for which there is evidence), Tolstykh received alternative nicknames “Hail-resistant militiaman” and “Iron Givi”, which, however, did not take root: the commander did not like excessive pomposity around his person.
The next step was the active participation of "Somalia" in the battles for the Donetsk airport. Under the command of Givi, the fighters of the unit demonstrated miracles of stamina and military art. “Everyone knows that we have the best gunners who have extensive combat experience and practice. All my guys have already seen the worst thing that can happen in this war. They are not afraid of anything!” - said Tolstykh after one of the hardest fights. After the signing of the Minsk agreements to resolve the conflict in Donbass and the suspension of active hostilities, "Somalia" still remained at the forefront, fulfilling especially important instructions from the leadership of the republic.
The self-confident battalion commander was famous not only for his experience and ingenuity on the battlefield. Givi did not deny himself the pleasure of demoralizing the enemy. Thus, a video in which Tolstykh forced captured Ukrainian fighters to chew on their shoulder straps, asking them why they came to his land, to his house, caused a huge resonance.
Attempts: real and fictional
It is clear that a figure of this magnitude was a desirable target for the Ukrainian security forces and saboteurs. Kyiv did not shy away from carrying out large-scale informational provocations against the Tolstoys, apparently hoping in this way to confuse the cards with the leadership of the DPR. One of these "sensations" was thrown into the media space in the fall of 2014, just at the height of the confrontation at the Donetsk airport. Citing a “source that you can definitely trust,” the central Ukrainian media began to rock the topic of the conflict between Givi and Motorola units (Sparta battalion commander Arseniy Pavlov, killed in October 2016) - allegedly due to disagreements over the continuation of shelling of the airport. The result of this, as reported in the Ukrainian press, was the arrest of Tolstoy and almost negotiations between the militia leaders and the SBU in order to extradite the militia commander to the Ukrainian security forces in exchange for ... an airport. When the information about the “arrest” was brought to the attention of the “Somalia” commander, he laughed for a long time, and then suggested that official Kyiv wanted to raise the spirit of its own army with the bad news about the DPR commanders.
Of course, there were real assassination attempts on Givi. The actions taken in March 2015 and April 2016 received the greatest response. In the first case, in the Makiivka area, unidentified persons fired at his car while he was driving to positions at the Donetsk airport. “As a result of the attack, Tolstoy’s car was damaged, he himself was not hurt, because he jumped out in time and opened fire to kill from the APS on the attackers’ car leaving, damaging its right side and shooting through the taillight,” the Somali battalion commented at the time. Givi himself returned to the shelled car and drove to the front line, which characterizes his personality most eloquently.
Almost a year later, again on the territory of Makiivka, unknown people tried to blow up the car where Givi was supposed to be. “An explosive device went off along the route of the commander’s car in the area of the Somali checkpoint, but the perpetrator of the assassination did not have enough skill to “successfully” complete what he started. As a result, we have: a frightened population, a hole in the asphalt and a ditched parked car, ”said Yegor Donetsky, a representative of the militia, then.
In October last year, I had to refute the “stuffing” that Givi was hastily selling his apartments and garages, preparing to leave the territory of the republic and flee to Transnistria. And literally in December, another “information attempt” on Tolstoy took place: information about the successful explosion of his car on the way from the restaurant was massively circulated in the media and social networks. “Stop reading Ukrainian news!” - reacted to the provocation in the DPR.
Could not do without "Somalia" and during the recent exacerbation in Avdiivka. Givi himself was “wounded with shell shock”, one of his closest assistants, a fighter with the call sign Consul, was completely “killed”, and the information was disseminated by the head of the Donetsk Regional Civil-Military Administration Pavel Zhebrivsky. In Somalia, they reacted with humor: a video was published with a “panikhida” for the Consul, after which he gets up from the coffin and promises to continue “mowing dill” (as supporters are disparagingly called in Donbass Kyiv authorities — approx. "Tapes.ru") .
Combat and politics
This is surprising, but the main military prosecutor's office of Ukraine officially put Mikhail Tolstykh on the wanted list only in June 2016. For comparison: Givi was included in the EU sanctions list at the beginning of 2015. On the other hand, Ukraine did not stint on the accusations brought against the Somalia commander: this includes the creation of a terrorist organization, and the leadership of a terrorist group, and participation in it, complicity in the conduct of an aggressive war, complicity in violating the laws and customs of war, cruel treatment of prisoners of war, illegal imprisonment or kidnapping. In August 2016, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv allowed Mikhail Tolstykh to be convicted in absentia, recognizing sufficient evidence that the suspect, "performing the role assigned to him by representatives of the authorities of the Russian Federation in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, organized and personally committed in January 2015 near the International Airport" Donetsk" acts of terrorism against the military personnel of the ATO forces, as well as ill-treated prisoners, which led to the death of nine people and other grave consequences." In September, the indictment against Givi was submitted to the court for a special trial - a conviction in absentia, but the final verdict did not appear.
Givi was associated with the European Union not only with sanctions - the famous battalion commander managed to provoke political showdowns in Europe. So, in March 2015, the representative of the Slovak embassy, Marian Farkas, awarded Tolstykh with a medal "For the defense of the civilian population of Donetsk." Moreover, under the impression of the charismatic commander, Farkas sent several cargoes of humanitarian aid to Donetsk and began to prepare the opening of a full-fledged Slovak embassy on the territory of the DPR. The last intention was not realized, but all these movements made a lot of noise in European institutions. As a result, Farkas nevertheless managed to open representative offices of the DPR and LPR in Bratislava, noting that the main task of their activity is to provide assistance to the population of Donbass.
Givi and Ukraine
Tolstykh has repeatedly stressed that he has no bias towards the Ukrainian people, despite the fact that in Ukraine "Givi and Motorola scare children." However, after the death of Motorola last fall, he promised in an emotional outburst: “I will level every city that we capture before Kyiv ... The entire Ukrainian people will answer. For every one killed, a million enemies must be killed, we will do it.”
The first reaction from Kyiv to the news about the death of Givi was not original. Ukrainian officials are true to themselves and say exactly the same as about other dead leaders of the Donbas militia: they say, there is a purge of people who are associated with the formation of the republics. There is no doubt that this version will be the focus in the coming days. Another popular option, which is likely to be happily picked up in Ukraine, is a showdown among the leadership of the republics.
