Head of the DPR

The Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic is the highest official and the chief executive of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic takes measures to protect human and civil rights and freedoms, ensures the coordinated functioning and interaction of public authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic under the established procedure. The Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic determines basic outlines for the development of the Donetsk People’s Republic in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic is elected by the citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic for a four-year of term on the basis of universal, equal direct suffrage by secret ballot.

Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin is the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Chairman of the Donetsk Republic Public Movement.

He was born on May 9, 1981, in the city of Makeyevka to the family of workers of the Makeyevka Metallurgical Plant.

The origins of his father, Vladimir Ivanovich, come from Russia. Pushilin’s paternal grandfather came to the industrial Donbass from the village of Nizhny Mamon of the Voronezh region. His mother, Valentina Ergashevna Khasanova, comes from Khmelnitsky, but her paternal roots originate from Uzbekistan. Pushilin’s grandfather, Ergash Khasanovich Khasanov, veteran of the Great Patriotic War, was a holder of a number of Orders and Medals for Homeland Defence.

He studied well at school, and in 1998 he graduated from Makeyevka City Lyceum.

From 1999 to 2000 he served in a special forces battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard in the Crimea.

After leaving the army, Pushilin entered Donbass National Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, the Faculty of Enterprise Economics. Since 2002, he combined studies and employment at one of the Makeyevka distribution companies.

After the coup d’etat in Kiev, he proceeded to action, often speaking at rallies held by residents of the Donetsk region, organizing many of them. Since March 2014, he became a Donbass People’s Liberation Movement leader. He was one of those who, shouldering responsibility, made a historic decision to proclaim the Donetsk People’s Republic on April 7, 2014. He became a Co-Chairman of the Transitional Government and took an active part in the preparation of the May 11 referendum on the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic. All the while, he stayed with activists in the Government House 24 hours a day, daily spoke to local residents, reporting on the events through the media, including foreign ones, in fact, becoming one of the main speakers of the DPR.

On May 15, 2014, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the DPR Supreme Council (back then it was the highest position in the Republic in accordance with the DPR Constitution).

On July 18, Pushilin resigned and took up the first centralized humanitarian supplies from Russia to Donbass as a Сo-Сhairman of the People’s Front of Novorossiya.

He was at the forefront of the creation of the Donetsk Republic Public Movement, heading its Executive Committee until October 2017.

As a result of the elections held on November 2, 2014, Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin was elected Deputy to the DPR People’s Council, and on November 14 he became Vice-Chairman of the DPR People’s Council.

From November 9, 2014 to September 11, 2018, he acted as the Permanent Plenipotentiary Representative of the DPR to the Contact Group negotiations in Minsk.

On September 11, 2015, he was elected Chairman of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Since the end of 2017, he was managing the Russian Center, established in Donetsk to enhance and systematize the processes of integrating Donbass into the Russian Federation.

Following the death of the first Head of the DPR, Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko, Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin was appointed Acting Head of the DPR by the People’s Council Decree of September 7, 2018.

On September 25, 2018, he was elected Chairman of the Donetsk Republic Public Movement during an extraordinary congress of the DRPM’s activists.

Denis Pushilin won a landslide victory as a candidate for the post of the Head of the DPR, following the results of the public vote held on November 11, 2018. According to the DPR Central Election Commission, he was supported by 60,85% of voters.

On November 21, 2018, he took office as Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Denis Pushilin is an Honorary citizen of the city of Makeyevka (awarded by order of the Acting Head of the Makeyevka City Administration of October 5, 2016).

He is the holder of a number of orders and medals. In particular, he was awarded the Assistance Medal of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic (December 27, 2016) and Contribution to International Cooperation Medal of the DPR Foreign Affairs Ministry (February 9, 2016). He was awarded the Badge of Honour No. 1 of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic (May 18, 2017) and the Certificate of Honour of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic (November 24, 2017).

Denis Vladimirovich is married, a father of three daughters.

He is keen on such sports as football, badminton, and weightlifting. Denis Pushilin lives a healthy lifestyle.
_______________
Up-to-date information is available on the official website of Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin (https://denis-pushilin.ru/) and the following pages on social networks: