Sergey Lazo

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Sergey (Serghei, Sergei) Geogriyevich Lazo (Russian: Серге́й Гео́ргиевич Лазо́; March 7, 1894 – April-May 1920) was a Communist leader at the time of the October 1917 Revolution in the Russian Far East.

Lazo was born in the village of Piatra, Orhei on territory that today forms part of Moldova. In 1917, he was a cadet of the Tsarist military academy when he joined the Bolshevik forces and was entrusted with several missions in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. In March-August 1918 he was a commander of Zabaykalski (trans-Baikalan) Front, and was fighting with Ataman Grigory Semyonov. Later he fought in Bolshevik partisan units in Vladivostok area. On January 31, 1920 Bolsheviks gained rule in Vladivostok, but on April 5, 1920 Lazo and other commanders were arrested by the Japanese troops. Then, Lazo disappeared, along with Vsevolod Sibircev and Alexey Lutski. Reportedly they were shot shortly after, but the detalis are not known. It is widely believed that the Japanese or Cossacks of the White movement burned them in the firebox of a steam engine in Muravyevo-Amurskaya (currently Lazo) station. However, this version might have been a Bolshevik propaganda only.

A number of locations in the Russian Far East now bear Lazo's name, the most prominent being Lazovsky District in Primorsky Krai and Lazo District in Khabarovsk Krai.