Alexei Morozov's death was confirmed on Wednesday, February 21, by several of his friends and ultra-nationalist Russian bloggers who, like him, cover the war in Ukraine on Telegram channels that are sometimes critical of their country's military command. According to several of these sources, as well as his lawyer, another blogger – Maxime Pachkov, a 44-year-old Russian military officer – had committed suicide that very morning.
At dawn on Wednesday, several long posts had appeared on his Telegram channel – which was followed by over 100,000 people – in which Morozov hinted at his suicide. "I don’t see the point in fighting further," he wrote, asking that the proceeds from the sale of his apartment be used to buy drones for the Russian army's 4th motorized rifle brigade.
"Murz," as he was known, was a figure of the Russian far right. In 2014, he had taken up arms alongside the Moscow-backed Donbas separatists in their war with Kyiv. He was close to the imprisoned Russian ultra-nationalist leader Igor Strelkov. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he founded the Telegam channel "They write to us from Ioannina." (named after the Greek town), and supported the Russian armed forces through fundraising and "humanitarian aid."
On February 18, the blogger gained prominence by publishing a post in which, thanks to his contacts in several units, he put forward an estimate of the losses suffered by the Russian army in the capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, Moscow's first military victory since that of Bakhmut, in May 2023. According to Murz, 16,000 Russian soldiers fell – dead, missing or seriously wounded – to take the ruins of this town, and 300 tanks were destroyed.
On the Ukrainian side, Morozov estimated losses at somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000, although he admitted to having less precise information. He also wrote that Kyiv's army had managed to avoid being encircled in Avdyivka and had managed to get its troops out.
The post triggered violent attacks and threats from other "Z" bloggers – as the enthusiastic supporters of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine describe themselves – and from star TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. Morozov finally deleted the post on February 20, citing direct pressure from the military command and threats to cease supplying equipment and ammunition to the units with which he had ties.
As for those "who are pissing themselves to come and pull the trigger. Well, I'll do it myself," he wrote on the morning of February 21. "I will shoot myself if no one dares to take on this trifling matter."