Head of self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk Aleksander Zakharchenko said that Ukraine’s Security Service was the mastermind behind Sunday’s killing of pro-Russian separatist commander Arsen Pavlov, nicknamed Motorola. Zakharchenko was speaking live on an evening program on television channel Rossiya 1.
Zakharchenko also said an investigation was underway to determine the identity of the person hired to do the deed.
“I would call this an act of terrorism on the state level,” said Zakharchenko.
Previously, the Ukrainian government has denied any involvement in Motorola’s death and Ukrainian Interior Ministry representative Artem Shevchenko said that the “terrorist’s” death may have been arranged by his own “accomplices”.
News agency Interfax reported on Sunday that Motorola had been killed in an explosion in a elevator. The bomb, it reported, was believed to have been planted by a Ukrainian resistance movement.
Arsen Pavlov participated in the battles for Ilovaysk and Donetsk airport. He was also a public figure in the Donestk separatist movement, as stories about him often appeared on national television.
In Ukraine, he was suspected of war crimes. Ukrainian authorities tried to have him put on Interpol’s wanted list, though consent was not given. Pavlov’s name did appear on the European Union’s sanctions list, however.