Aleksei Chaly

Aleksei Mikhailovich Chaly (Russian: Алексей Михайлович Чалый; born 13 June 1961) is a businessman and the former de facto mayor of Sevastopol in 2014.

[citation needed] On 23 February 2014, a meeting of citizens opposed to the Euromaidan movement that ousted the Ukrainian government from power in Kyiv led to Chaly being proclaimed as "mayor" of Sevastopol.

[2][4] On 26 February, Chaly declared that Sevastopol would not submit to orders of the acting leader of the Ukrainian home office, Arsen Avakov.

Chaly visited the Kremlin in Moscow on 18 March 2014 to sign the Treaty on Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia together with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Crimean prime minister Sergey Aksyonov.

[5] In March 2014, the Security Service of Ukraine has announced an investigation into Chaly for allegedly steering some ₴23.9 million from his charitable organisation to bankroll anti-Ukraine activity.