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.
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.
Early life and activity
Igor Mangushev was born on 16 August 1986 in Moscow, Russian SFSR.[2][3]
Mangushev grew up to become a Russian nationalist,[4][5] founding the organisation Svetlaya Rus (Russian: Светлая Русь) in late 2009.[6] Mangushev, in his role leading Svetlaya Rus, coordinated with police and conducted raids on illegal migrants living within unlicensed dwellings in the Russian Federation.[7] Following the raids on immigrant dwellings, Mangushev would contact local Russian police, who would take note of the illegal migrants, fingerprint them, and typically release them.[7][8] His group was among the first such public-private partnerships in Russia to conduct these sorts of operations following the 2011 arrest of Russian pilots in Tajikistan.[6]
By 2012, Mangushev's connections with militant patriotic groups in Russia had strengthened, and he founded and took the helm of E.N.O.T. (Russian: Енот),[8][9] which was founded to coordinate Russia's nascent militarised patriotic movement.[8]
Mangushev worked as captain in the Luhansk People's Republic People's Militia,[12] and as a mercenary.[4] Through E.N.O.T. Corp., he deployed as a fighter in the Russo-Ukrainian War beginning in 2014,[9][13] though E.N.O.T. had claimed at the time that it was simply providing humanitarian assistance to individuals living in Donbas.[14]: 131–132 Mangushev was an active proponent of the formation and use of private military companies in the war, seeing them as a way to unify the citizens' militias with a more structured organisation that could provide documentation of the militia's military activities.[6]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mangushev led Russia's anti-drone platoon[18] and used the call sign Bereg.[20] The platoon sought out and destroyed Ukrainian drones by identifying and interrupting their WiFi signals with technology developed by Mangushev and his team.[21] Mangushev was a vocal proponent of the war and a critic of some Russian military leaders who he perceived as hesitant and making slow progress in the war.[13][5] He claimed to be the inventor of the Z symbol[20][22] and was often photographed posing with a Nazi salute.[20]
Mangushev operated the Telegram channel Notes of an Adventurer.[23] In August 2022, a video circulated showing him appearing on a stage in a Russian nightclub[13] holding a skull that he claimed was from a Ukrainian soldier who died in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during the siege of Mariupol.[4][24] While on stage with the skull, he stated that he sought the destruction of Ukraine as a nation-state and that Russia's goal in the invasion of Ukraine was to destroy the Ukrainian national identity.[22] Mangushev's widow said that he took the skull from the ruins of Azovstal because "one friend's wife wanted a skull of a Ukrainian very much".[25]
Death
On the night of 4 February 2023, at a checkpoint in Kadiivka, Mangushev was shot in the back of the head.[12] At the time, he had been stationed in Kadiivka as a soldier in the Russo-Ukrainian War.[4] He was struck by a 9 mm bullet at close range,[4] and afterwards was taken to a hospital in Kadiivka.[20] He died in the hospital on 8 February 2023, aged 36.[18]
His wife described his death as an execution,[4] and his friends have called for an official investigation into his death.[18] British political scientist Mark Galeotti described the shooting as a "hit",[20] while Mangushev's widow alleged that medical care was being intentionally withheld from her husband in the days between the shooting and his death.[26]
Mangushev's body was cremated under strict supervision of his family because, as his widow explained, a US$70,000 prize was offered for his skull in response to his performance, and the family was seriously concerned that someone from the morgue or crematory will be tempted to covertly remove and sell it.[1]
