Aleksandr Petrovich Burago was an officer of the Russian Imperial army. Serving as a captain under Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko, he commanded the force that liberated Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule on 16 January 1878. Later on Burago became a colonel. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 30, in 1883, on Madeira, and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg.
In recognition of his "excellence demonstrated in the battle ... whereupon, together with a squadron of dragoons, having crossed the Maritsa river ... entered the city, still occupied by the Turkish division ... an almost 25 times greater in numbers enemy force", Burago was awarded the Order of St.