Pavel Gubarev, a prominent figure in the 2014 pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, has launched a scathing public attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to the popular Russian journalist Yury Dud, Gubarev—who now heads the extremist “Novorossiya” movement—heavily criticized the Kremlin leader’s indecisiveness, labeling him a powerless “puppet.”
The core of Gubarev’s frustration stems from the events of 2014. He argued that following the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, Moscow should have immediately launched a full-scale military invasion of the Donbas region. According to the militant, Putin’s hesitation and reliance on hybrid warfare tactics at the time are the exact reasons Russia is currently bogged down in a devastating and prolonged war against Ukraine, which has resulted in massive casualties.
“The most correct thing would have been to send in the troops then, just like in 2022,” Gubarev stated. He lamented that an early invasion would have prevented the massive bloodshed seen today, adding that pro-Russian separatists were “naive fools” for begging Putin to intervene directly back then.
In a highly disrespectful tone toward the Russian autocrat, Gubarev claimed he no longer feels anger toward Putin because he has realized the president is “not a tsar” but rather an accidental figure in power. “He is a person who has been out of place for 25 years. If you are an accidental person in power, it means you are a Petrushka [a traditional Russian puppet],” Gubarev said. He further dismissed Putin as a mere “manager” executing someone else’s will.
Gubarev first gained notoriety in the spring of 2014 when he declared himself the “people’s governor” of Donetsk and actively recruited fighters for local separatist militias. Sidelined from real power after the establishment of the so-called “DNR,” he moved to Russia but returned to join the full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.
Gubarev’s rhetoric highlights a growing schism within Russia’s radical pro-war factions. In 2023, he became a member of the “Club of Angry Patriots,” a hardline group highly critical of the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry. The group was founded by Igor Girkin (Strelkov), a former separatist commander currently serving a four-year prison sentence in Russia for “extremism.”
Now, the Kremlin’s crackdown on ultra-nationalist critics appears to have reached Gubarev as well. In February, Russian authorities filed a protocol against him for “discrediting the Russian army.” A court hearing is scheduled for April 20. While Gubarev claims ignorance about the specific charges or who initiated them, he has publicly dismissed the legal pursuit as “hopeless stupidity.”