Page 19 - bne_newspaper_September_7_2018

Eastern Europe
September 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
Ukraine separatist leader killed in Donetsk cafe blast
bne IntelliNews
A bomb in a cafe in the city of Donetsk killed Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the Moscow- backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, on August 31.
Zakharchenko died on the spot from a fatal head injury. According to his advisor Alexander Kazakov, an improvised explosive device planted inside the cafe. "It was an improvised explosive device, its main principle of action — a blast wave and fire," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying the next day. "The blast occurred as they were walking into the cafe, the device was planted above the door inside. The bodyguard, who walked first, was killed instantly."
As a result of the blast, Zakharchenko's bodyguard was killed, while the Donetsk People's Republic's Minister of Revenues and Duties Alexander Timofeyev was seriously injured and later died of his wounds.
Zakharchenko is the latest prominent pro-Russian leader of the Donetsk People's Republic to be killed since a ceasefire was secured with Kyiv in 2015.
In February 2017, prominent pro-Russian rebel field commander Mikhail Tolstykh, nicknamed Givi, was killed by a rocket fired at his office in Donetsk. Unknown attackers fired a portable Shmel incendi- ary rocket launcher at the building, local officials said, which points to a targeted killing.
The incident followed October's assassination of another rebel field commander Arseniy Pavlov,
Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the Moscow-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic was killed by a bomb
known as Motorola, in a bomb blast in the elevator of his home, also in Donetsk. The commander gained notoriety after publicly claiming to
have personally executed 15 captive Ukrainian government soldiers.
In the past, authorities of the self-proclaimed so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic have blamed assassinations
of well-known rebels on Kyiv, which sought them for crimes against Ukraine's territorial integrity. However, some security experts believe Russian special forces could be behind these actions, removing rebel commanders who do not comply with orders sent from Moscow.
According to Russian media, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic will be temporarily led by its Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Trapeznikov after the killing of Zakharchenko.
Vasyl Hrytsak, head of the SBU security service in Kyiv believes the rebel leader was eliminated by Moscow.
"In my opinion, the situation is predicted. All those who in 2014 facilitated the introduction of Russian troops to Donbas, who contributed to the creation of pseudo-national republics are being eliminated," Interfax quoted Hrytsak as saying
on September 1. "We believe that a methodical elimination of those who know too much and who have blood on their hands, those who are no longer needed as witnesses is being carried out." Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei