Alexander Yurevich Borodai (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ю́рьевич Борода́й, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bərɐˈdaj]; Ukrainian: Олександр Юрійович Бородай, romanized: Oleksandr Yuriiovych Borodai; born 25 July 1972)[3][failed verification] is a Russian member of the State Duma of the 8th convocation for the party United Russia.

[9] Borodai, a Russian citizen, had earlier worked as a political adviser to Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of the Republic of Crimea.

[3] Borodai and the future military commander of the Donetsk People's Republic Igor Strelkov were close associates of the far-right nationalist Russian businessmen Konstantin Malofeev.

[11] In the 1990s he edited a Russian[19][20][21] newspaper[22] Zavtra [ru] (Завтра -"Tomorrow"), run by journalist Alexander Prokhanov.

[11] In 2002, according to the Moscow Times newspaper, he also dismissed reports that he had been appointed a deputy director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)[17][18] as a hoax arranged for his 30th birthday.

[26] As a Russian citizen with no ties to Donbas, he was unknown in Donetsk and his nomination came as a surprise to the other prominent figures of the separatist movement.

[10] He further stated in the 7 August 2014 press conference that he believed a "native Muscovite" like him should not lead the Donetsk People's Republic.

[29] In 2017 Boroday claimed (talking to Reuters) that Zakharchenko succeeded him in a Russian government effort "to try to show the West that the uprising was a grassroots phenomenon".

[31] In 2017 in an interview for a Russian nationalist TV channel "Tsargrad" Borodai complained that "colossal organization effort and enormous sums of money were spent to keep Ukraine in the zone of influence of the 'Russian world'" by Russia, yet it did not happen because all the pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine who received the funds have ultimately "forgiven" themselves the "debt" and did nothing.