Ilya Leshiy is forever in the ranks

It is with pain in our hearts that we wish to inform you of a terrible tragedy. On April 19, 2023, our comrade and friend, the Russian anarchist Dmitry Petrov, better known to you as Ilya “Leshy”, died in the battle for the crucial road to Bakhmut.

Dima was one of the founders of the Resistance Committee and one of the first anarchists to take up arms to fight Putin’s army. He began his service in the anti-authoritarian platoon, and afterwards, in the ranks of the volunteer unit, he fought the imperial troops in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

During those 1.5 years he proved to be a tenacious fighter, who could not be stopped by any obstacle on his way to creating an anarchist military unit and a sustainable anarchist organization.

As a consistent revolutionary and internationalist, he took part in the grassroots resistance and in the popular uprisings in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Risking his life, he visited Syrian Kurdistan and became one of the authors of Hevale resource, in the pages of which he told the Russian-speaking audience about the Kurdish liberation struggle.

Such active and combustible people are always sorely missed in our movement and his death is a great loss for us and for the liberation movement worldwide. Each of us will remember Dima as a role model.

Ilya Leshiy is forever in the ranks!

- Комітет Спротиву /// Resistance Committee