Alexander Okunev with his family. Collage: IStories
Kaliningrad resident Alexander Okunev self-immolated near the Memorial to the 1,200 Guardsmen in February 2025 in protest against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The incident became public only nearly a year later, after the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service mentioned it in a public report. The report did not name the man who died. Delfi Estonia and LRT established some details, while the independent Russian outlet IStories later uncovered additional information.
According to the report, 37-year-old Alexander Okunev arrived at the memorial, which has a permanently burning gas torch in front of it — the so-called “Eternal Flame” — at around 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2025. The date marked the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Okunev wrote “No to war” on the snow and set himself on fire. His body was discovered by a passerby only at around 6:40 a.m., even though the monument is supposedly under CCTV surveillance.
Alexander Okunev was not a public activist. He worked as a systems administrator for a company that sold retail equipment, avoided discussing politics, lived alone, and rarely interacted with his colleagues. Acquaintances described him as a withdrawn but kind and helpful person. Several months before the incident, he quit his job and almost completely stopped communicating with others.
