Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, whose ruthless tactics in Ukraine earned him the nickname “the Butcher of Mariupol,” was booted from his high-ranking post as part of President Vladimir Putin’s military shakeup.
Alexander Sladkov, a correspondent for the Russian state-run newspaper Izvestia, said in a post on his Telegram channel Thursday that the 60-year-old Mizintsev, whom he described as a “friend,” was ousted as deputy defense minister for logistics.
The unexplained termination came less than eight months after Mizintsev was tapped by the Kremlin to replace Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov, who has been blamed for bungling the invasion of Ukraine by failing to properly arm and feed Moscow’s troops.
Mizintsev, whom Sladkov touted as an “intellectual,” was said to be directly responsible for overseeing some of the most notorious atrocities during the first months of the war in Ukraine, including an airstrike in Mariupol that leveled a maternity hospital, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
Mizintsev also reportedly ordered the bombing of a Mariupol theater where hundreds of civilians, including many children, were sheltering during the brutal, months-long siege of the city, leaving at least 300 dead.
In late March, Mizintsev was sanctioned by the British government for his “reprehensible” actions in Mariupol.
Sladkov argued that contrary to reporting by international news outlets that have affixed the “butcher” label on Mizintsev, he “had had no direct relation to the storming of the city” of Mariupol.
Previously, Mizintsev was responsible for the siege of Aleppo in Syria, where he ordered cluster-bomb strikes on residential areas in a bloody attritional campaign that has left thousands of civilians dead.
Sladkov wrote on Telegram that he did not know why Mizintsev was axed, but he suggested that it was unlikely that the firing was due to poor job performance, considering that he’d occupied his post for less than a year.
Sladkov revealed in a follow-up post that Mizintsev will be replaced by Alexei Kuzmenkov, who serves as deputy head of Russia’s National Guard.
The Russian pro-war Telegram channel Rybar confirmed the personnel reshuffling.
It was not immediately clear what happens next to Mizintsev, who has served in the Russian military since 1980.
Mizintsev’s ouster appears to be part of a wider shake-up within Russia’s military brass.
The Izvestia correspondent reported that Col. Oleg Gorshenin was being replaced as commander of the National Defense Management Center just months after his appointment.
This latest flurry of staff changes comes a week after Putin removed Adm. Sergei Avakyants, commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, while he was overseeing naval exercises near Japan.
