Denis Valentinovych Berezovsky (born 15 July 1974) was an admiral of Ukraine who later defected to the Russian Navy during the 2014 Crimean Crisis, becoming the deputy commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Biography[]
Denis Valentinovych Berezovsky was born on 15 July 1974 in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. In 1996 he graduated from the Nakhimov Higher Naval Institute at Sevastopol and on 6 December 2012 became a Rear-Admiral of the Ukrainian Navy. On 1 March 2014 he was made commander of the naval forces of Ukraine by President Oleksandr Turchynov, but on 2 March he was dismissed after he ordered his troops to lay down their arms to avoid a confrontation with Russia during the Crimean Crisis. On 5 March he was ordered to be arrested for treason, so he declared his allegiance to the Republic of Crimea and defected to the Russian Navy, becoming deputy commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on 24 March.