Manolis Pilavov was born in the
Georgian SSR on 24 March 1964 to an ethnically mixed family with
Russian,
Ossetian,
Greek,
Georgian and
Armenian roots. He moved to
Luhansk at a young age. In 1981, he graduated from the
Voroshilovgrad Construction College. Afterwards, he graduated from the with a degree in agricultural construction. In July 1986, he became a painter of the construction department No. 4 of the Voroshilovgradpromstroy trust, and in December became a foreman of the construction department No. 2 of the Voroshilovgradpromstroy trust. In December 1989, he became the head of the production and technological machine and equipment department of the Voroshilovgradpromstroy trust. Since October 1990, he was the head of the housing maintenance association of the and later the . In 1998, he became the first deputy head of the housing department of the Luhansk city executive committee and the first deputy chairman of the council for the activities of the executive bodies of the Kamennobrodsky district council. In 2001, Pilavov graduated from the
East Ukrainian National University with a degree in public service. In April 2002, he became deputy mayor of Luhansk for the activities of executive bodies. In June 2002, he became the general director of the regional communal enterprise "Luganskvoda". In February 2004, he became deputy chairman of the Kamennobrodsky district council. In April 2006, he became the first deputy of the Luhansk mayor. In 2014, amidst
unrest and the following
war in Donbas, he was active in maintaining
Luhansk's economy, participated in the activities of the self-declared
Luhansk People's Republic, and after Sergei Kravchenko was detained in August 2014, he took over the leadership of the city. On 2 December 2014, by the decree of the
Head of the Luhansk People's Republic Igor Plotnitsky, he became the separatist-appointed
Mayor. He was subsequently charged by the Ukrainian authorities under Article 258 of
Ukraine's Criminal Code, which deals with support for armed groups. motor center
Death Pilavov died on 3 July 2025 in central Luhansk as a result of an
improvised explosive device (IED) detonation. The explosion occurred on Taras Shevchenko Street and was confirmed by local media aligned with the LPR. Local authorities opened a criminal investigation. == References ==