Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko was a Ukrainian separatist leader who was the head of state and Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed rebel group which declared independence from Ukraine on 11 May 2014. Zakharchenko was appointed Prime Minister in August 2014 after his predecessor Alexander Borodai resigned, and went on to win the early November 2014 election for the position.

Alexander Yurevich Borodai is a Russian member of the State Duma of the 8th convocation for the party United Russia. Borodai was Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in 2014 after the Donetsk People's Republic declared its independence from Ukraine on 12 May 2014, Borodai was appointed as Prime Minister by the republic's Supreme Council on 14 May 2014. Borodai, a Russian citizen, had earlier worked as a political adviser to Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of the Republic of Crimea. On 7 August 2014, Borodai announced his resignation. He was succeeded by Alexander Zakharchenko; under Zakharchenko, Borodai became Deputy Prime Minister.