Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ A prominent Russian warblogger and Ka-52 helicopter pilot appears to have killed himself after posting an apparent farewell video on Telegram. 'Voivode', real name Alexey Zemtsov, says he has committed suicide due to pressure from his superiors. ⬇️

2/ Zemtsov is a Guards Senior Lieutenant in the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) and administrator of the Telegram channel 'The Voivode Broadcasts', which has about 152,000 followers. He has been a prolific warblogger, but his criticisms caused serious problems with his superiors.

3/ He has published a farewell post on his channel, saying in a series of videos that he has "exercised the right of his last officer's honour" (i.e., decided to commit suicide) and declaring that "I won't be able to survive this disgrace". He explains his reasons.

4/ "If you're watching this video, it means I'm no longer alive," Zemtsov states. He says that his career as a military helicopter pilot was ruined after his wife cheated on him with his assistant, who ran his Telegram channel.

5/ He was indicted on criminal charges after beating up his wife's lover and spent four and a half months in pre-trial detention. He was charged with threatening to kill, damaging property, and extortion on an especially large scale.

6/ Zemtsov says that his unit commander, Colonel Avramenko, objected to his activities on Telegram.

7/ Specifically, he says, after he exposed the practice of military pilots marching in formation after completing combat missions, he was grounded and sent to a remote unit far away from Ukraine.

8/ According to Zemtsov, VKS Deputy Commander Vladimir Kravchenko suggested that he should go to the hospital and thus be forced to resign. Zemtsov claims that Kravchenko regularly sent pilots to hospitals as a means of dismissig them.

8/ He says that at the request of Colonel Avramenko, he was sent instead to an assault unit in the spring of 2026. Later, he was brought back to pretrial detention on charges of "discrediting the army."

10/ This related to a mocking post about a contract soldier being issued a helmet with the inscription "US Army." He was forced to retract the post with a rebuttal the following day.

11/ Zemtsov claims that the charge of "discrediting" prevented him from serving as a rank-and-file infantryman, which he views as an affront to an officer’s honour.

12/ According to Zemtsov, the charge was brought on instructions from Kravchenko; in the farewell video, he shows what he claims is a dossier of incriminating evidence against the deputy commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces.

13/ Zemtsov claims that Avramenko's superiors threatened him with a case of "abuse of authority" for sending Zemtsov to fight in the infantry. His commander was therefore forced to bring charges and recall him to pre-trial detention.

14/ Zemtsov appeals in the videos to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, asking him to investigate the Rostov Military Investigative Directorate, specifically Senior Lieutenant Kantemirov, whom he accuses of fraudulently extracting testimony.

15/ SOTA notes that Zemtsov was a fairly open Nazi sympathiser, using the email address [e-mail] and being photographed giving a Nazi salute. His death has not yet been confirmed. /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/astrapress/109…
🔹 t.me/sotaproject/11…