Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Igor Mangushev

No consensus to promote at this time - Ian Rose (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 19:20, 10 February 2024 (UTC) &laquo; Return to A-Class review list

Igor Mangushev
Instructions for nominators and reviewers
 * Nominator(s): 

Igor Mangushev was a Russian mercenary who famously held up a skull during a stage routine in 2022. He died in circumstances described by his wife as an assassination later that year. He is a notable figure associated with the war in Ukraine. This is my first time nominating an article for A-class review, although I have several GA articles and one FA article elsewhere on Wikipedia. I will respond quickly to comments.

User:Red-tailed_hawk did a significant amount of the writing of this article with me.

(talk) 14:32, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

G'day, this really needs a source review up front, because I know that a lot of Russian media is considered unreliable. I suggest posting on the Milhist talk page asking for someone who can do a source review for a recent Russian bio. I wouldn't commit to a full review until I was assured the sources were all ok. I'd add that there is almost nothing about his early life, which makes me unsure it should be GA. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 05:30, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Source review - pass
Not my area of expertise, but since no one else has stepped forward, I will have ago. In sum, the sources used in the are generally considered acceptable. Hawkeye7  (discuss)  19:53, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
 * fn 1: RTVI. Global Russian-speaking multi-platform media based in the United States. Nothing on WP:RSN, so accepted.
 * fn 2: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine). Used only for date of birth - accepted.
 * fn 3: Center for Research of Signs of Crimes against the National Security of Ukraine, Peace, Humanity, and the International Law. Sounds terrible but again only used for dob - accepted
 * fn 4: BBC - ok
 * fn 5: Financial Times - okay
 * fn 6: Коммерсантъ - "its reporting is generally reliable on most matters" - okay (Reliable sources/Perennial sources)
 * fn 7: The New Times - okay
 * fn 8, 10: Новая газета - RSN says it is reliable (Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 180)
 * fn 9: Jamestown Foundation - right wing American think tank. RSN considers "generally reliable" (Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 14, Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 272) - accepted
 * fn 11: Academic journal on JSTOR - accepted
 * fn 12: РИА Новости - Russian state-owned news agency. "There is a broad consensus that it is a biased and opinionated source. It is generally considered usable for official government statements and positions. There is no consensus on whether it is reliable for other topics, though opinions generally lean towards unreliability." For the statements it supports, I am accepting it.
 * fn 13: Seznam.cz - Czech language source - nothing on RSN - accepted.
 * fn 14: Routledge Book - okay
 * fn 15: REGNUM News Agency - right wing Russian news agency "a questionable publication due to its publication of pro-Russian propaganda (at least, as the Russian version of the article says so, and its editor-in-chief is banned from Ukraine and the Baltic states; though that might be political). That said, we normally give wide latitude even to sources that disseminate carefully curated messages when citing government employees" (Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 367) - accepted
 * fn 16: CNN - okay
 * fn 17: Voice of America - "considered to be generally reliable, though some editors express concerns regarding its neutrality and editorial independence from the U.S. government" (Reliable sources/Perennial sources) - accepted
 * fn 18: The Moscow Times - another online-only newspaper - coverage of the wars in Ukraine and Syria has been criticised (Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 170, Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 198) - accepted
 * fn 19, 22: The Insider - another online-only newspaper - "There is no consensus on the reliability of Insider" (Reliable sources/Perennial sources) - accepted
 * fn 20: The Daily Telegraph - "There is consensus that The Daily Telegraph (also known as The Telegraph) is generally reliable. Some editors believe that The Daily Telegraph is biased or opinionated for politics" - okay
 * fn 21: Аргументы и факты - Russian government newspaper - accepted
 * fn 23: Meduza - English and Russian language news website - "generally reliable" (Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 396) - accepted
 * fn 24: The Jerusalem Post - okay
 * fn 25: Ukrainska Pravda - Ukrainian online newspaper - like several of the Russian language ones used in the article, the fact that it has been blocked by its government is considered a good sign - accepted
 * fn 26: Evening Standard - British tabloid owned by a Russian oligarch - "Despite being a free newspaper, it is generally considered more reliable than most British tabloids" - faint praise indeed - accepted

Harrias
Given the source review above, I'll take a look over the prose. Overall, I am leaning towards an oppose on this. The article just feels like a collection of facts about the subject, rather than a coherent biography of the subject. I'm not so much bothered about the gaps where we don't know what he was doing, but more about the lack of context given throughout. The article would do well to frame Mangushev's role and importance. Harrias (he/him) • talk 14:30, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
 * "In 2009, he founded the nationalist organization Svetlaya Rus in 2009.." – Remove repetition of "in 2009".
 * "In addition to his military activities, he worked as a political operative for various Kremlin agencies and an internet troll for the Internet Research Agency." The MOS advises against single-sentence paragraphs. I think this could merge easily with the previous paragraph.
 * "Igor Mangushev was born on 16 August 1986 in Moscow, Russian SFSR." – And again.
 * "His group was among the first such public-private partnerships in Russia to conduct these sorts of operations following the 2011 arrest of Russian pilots in Tajikistan." – What does the "2011 arrest of Russian pilots in Tajikistan" have to do with "public-private partnerships" to carry out raids on immigrant dwellings?
 * Link Svetlaya Rus and E.N.O.T. Corp. on their first mention in the body of the article, as well as the lead.
 * I frequently find myself wondering what things are, and what relevance they have: the article assumes too much knowledge. It says he founded Svetlaya Rus, but never really discusses what it is. The same with E.N.O.T. Corp; although the article notes that it "was founded to coordinate Russia's nascent militarised patriotic movement", the article would benefit from greater explanation. And then again with the Internet Research Agency.
 * "..opposition to 2013 Alexei Navalny mayoral campaign.." – Missing word.
 * "Mangushev worked as captain.." – Missing word.
 * "capitol city" – Should be "capital city".
 * "According to his widow, he dreamed of seeing Kyiv burning." – This only appears in the lead.

Catlemur

 * His father's name (Leonidovich) is mentioned in the lede but not in the main article, its not cited.
 * There is next to no information on his childhood and who his parents were.
 * There are articles about him in Meduza, Novaya Gazeta and other Russian independent opposition media which are not cited. The aforementioned sources contain information on his early activities and death which are currently missing from the article. So it can definitely be expanded further.
 * He is also mentioned in academic articles 1, 2 which explain that ENOT's leadership criticized the handling of Donbas conflict by the Russian authorities leading to a fallout between the two. This is an important detail missing from the article as is Mangushev's alleged role in bringing Igor Girkin to Donbas.--Catlemur (talk) 21:24, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Image review by Adam Cuerden
One image, fair use. It seems a reasonable case of fair use, so... ✅ Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 8.7% of all FPs. 11:36, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Coord note
No consensus to promote after six months and no WP activity by nominator since September so archiving this. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 18:30, 10 February 2024 (UTC)