Boris Skossyreff

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Boris Skossyreff (1896? – 1944?) was a presumably Russian adventurer who attempted to seize power in the European nation of Andorra during the early 1930s. Russian sources give his name in Cyrillic as Борис Скосырев, for which the modern English transliteration of his name would be Skosyrev.

In December 1933 he obtained Andorran citizenship and after some time he presented a plan for administrative reform involving the creation of several offices to which he asked to be appointed himself. But he quickly got into trouble and was expelled around May 1934. On July 12, he issued a proclamation in Urgell, Spain, declaring himself Boris I, sovereign prince of Andorra and "regent for His Majesty the King of France", and declaring war on the bishop of Urgell (the co-prince of Andorra). On July 20, he was arrested and taken to Barcelona and then on July 23 to Madrid where he was imprisoned until being expelled in November.

Spanish authorities who held him in custody noted he carried a Dutch passport which indicated his date of birth as June 12, 1896. He declared himself to be a White Russian emigré, born in Vilnius.

According to some sources, he died in 1944 while imprisoned in a camp near Perpignan by the Vichy French regime during World War II.

In some Russian-language publications and websites there are somewhat legendary stories reported as fact, notably claiming that Boris I ruled Andorra for a number of years until 1941 whereupon he was overthrown by Vichy France. This version is not supported by accounts in other languages.

A novel about this episode is Boris I, rei d'Andorra, by Catalan author Antoni Morell i Mora (Edicions La Magrana, Barcelona, ISBN 84-7410-157-3). The author dedicated this book to his grandmother, who had personally met Skossyreff.