Alexander Khodakovsky

Alexander Sergeevich Khodakovsky is the commander of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion formed in early May 2014 during the 2014 insurgency in Donbas. Khodakovsky is a former commander of the Alpha special unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). During the 2014 insurgency in Donbas, he left Ukrainian state service and became the leader of the pro-Russian "Patriotic Forces of Donbas" in Donetsk Oblast, and later the Security Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic. In May 2018 Khodakovsky relocated to Russia and in September 2018 he claimed that Russian border guards did not let him return to Donetsk.