MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) – The recent murder of two men in Ukraine's Slaviansk is a shameless provocation staged by supporters of the Kiev junta, the deputy commander of the people’s militia in Donbas told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
“The bodies recovered are evidence of sabotage by far-right rebels against the civilian population,” Miroslav Rudenko said.
“The supporters of the Kiev junta and their local henchmen that are trying to retain power, that possess all means and leverage, including criminal ones, have become too active,” he added.
“It’s possible this could be a staged shameless provocation: to abduct a person who does not share our views, to beat him, then to kill and lay the blame on those who are struggling for freedom. It was obvious after the shooting of civilians in Mariupol, after the attack on a checkpoint that these people would stop at nothing,” Rudenko said.
The bodies of two unidentified men, one of them supposedly politician Vladimir Rybak who went missing last week, were found near the city of Slaviansk on Sunday. Militia leader Vyacheslav Ponomarev said later that the bodies showed signs of torture.
Rudenko stressed that there was a connection between the provocation and Kiev’s calls for a renewal of anti-terror measures in eastern Ukraine.
“This means that the so-called Kiev government has no intention to stop this aggression, this pressure on the Donbas people and continues to use these filthy methods,” he said.
“This is a peculiar form of cynicism when they pretend to agree [in Geneva] and continue attacks. Of course, everyone understands that no one is going to give in; they will all stand to the end. That’s why there is no point in keeping up this game. Obviously, they understand this too and thus decided to resume the anti-terror operation,” he added.
Ukraine's acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered special services Tuesday to resume a special operation in the country’s east, recently swept by pro-federalization protests.
In a telephone talk with his US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined the necessity of Kiev taking urgent measures to implement the Geneva agreement, which calls for the end of violence and a total rejection of extremism in the country.
