Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev is the Head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation. Mizintsev is nicknamed ‘the Butcher of Mariupol’ and identified as the commander overseeing the siege of Mariupol, where he has drawn on tactics previously used in the siege of Aleppo, Syria, in directing Russian forces’ bombardment of Mariupol.

Mizintsev is accused in particular of orchestrating the bombardments of the city of Mariupol, killing thousands of civilians, including the shelling of a Mariupol maternity hospital and a theatre, killing hundreds of children. Mikhail Mizintsev is therefore a natural person responsible for, supporting or implementing actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, or stability or security in Ukraine.