{"id":40257,"date":"2015-08-20T16:20:16","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T16:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=31674"},"modified":"2015-08-24T23:48:39","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T20:48:39","slug":"31674-p-yer-sotrej","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil"},"content":{"rendered":"

WATCH IN ENGLISH<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kyiv, August 20, 2015.<\/strong><\/em> On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the self-declared \u201cLuhansk People\u2019s Republic\u201d (\u201cLPR\u201d)\u00a0 took place. It was seen as a joke or farce in Kyiv, but in Luhansk the event was of high importance because of the chaos prevailing in the region, said Pierre Sautreuil, French journalist of the news outlet Nouvel Observateur, at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis media Center. The journalist has been covering developments in the \u201cLPR\u201d since October 2014, and has lived in the region for around three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a huge difference between the self-proclaimed \u201cDonetsk People\u2019s Republic\u201d (\u201cDPR\u201d) and the \u201cLPR.\u201d A clear vertical of power has been established in the \u201cDPR\u201d from the very beginning and Aleksandr Zakharchenko was an undisputable leader. It was only Igor Bezler, separatist leader in control of Horlivka who was a threat to his absolute leadership. But Bezler was pushed out of the way on November 1, 2014, right before I arrived,\u201d said Sautreuil.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there has been no unity in the \u201cLPR\u201d from the very beginning, emphasized Sautreuil. Part of the Luhansk region\u2019s territory was divided among various, more or less independent, armed groups that were to more or less antagonistic toward Plotnitsky, who was appointed leader by Valeriy Bolotov on August 14, 2014. \u201cThe problem was that in the beginning, not only was Plotnitsky unable to control the entirety of the \u201cLPR\u201d territory but was barely keeping Luhansk,\u201d the journalist elaborated.<\/p>\n

Thus in Luhansk, in addition to the \u201cPeople\u2019s Militia of the \u2019LPR\u2019,\u201d which formed around Plotnitsky\u2019s Zarya battalion, another battalion was simultaneously on the scene there, which was under the command of Aleksandr Bednov, better known by his nome-de-guerre Batman,\u00a0 who has opposed to Plotnitsky\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

Moreover, other forces in opposition to Plotnitksy\u2019s \u201cLPR\u201d were the Kazaki brigade and the Prizrak\u201d brigade led by Alexei Mozgovoy. Together, these battalions formed a corridor independent from the \u201cLPR\u201d and the \u201cDPR\u201d going from Pervomaysk to Sverdlovsk. Mozgovoy called Plotnysky a \u201ctraitor,\u201d while Pavel Dryomov decided to found a yet another self-declared Kazak People\u2019s Republic in Stakhanov, meaning a \u201cstate inside a state inside the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Pierre Sautreuil, there are three main reasons for enmity between Plotnytsky and the other local leaders:<\/p>\n

1) Differing visions of so-called Novorossiya. The opposition leaders were against the Minsk agreements and in favor of a large and grand concept of Novorossiya, while Plotnitsky complied with Kremlin\u2019s orders, namely those calling for a wrap-up of the project, and a refocusing on Donetsk and Luhansk.<\/p>\n

2) Economic interests. Each group controls different financial flows, markets and businesses. Each motivated their raiding as a \u201crevolution tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

3) Different support groups in Moscow. \u00a0The Kazaki, Batman and Mozgovoy enjoy the support of Igor Strelkov\u2019s network and largely supported the idea of a large Novorossiya from Donetsk to Odesa. Plotnitsky is presumably supported by Russian special services.<\/p>\n

The elections that took place November 2014 were intended to legalize Plotnitsky\u2019s power in the \u201cLPR\u201d. A lot of candidateslike Batman were not able to even register themselves. After the elections in the \u201cLPR,\u201d a series of murders, arrests and disarmament incidents took place aimed to monopolize power in hands of Plotnitsky, stated the journalist.<\/p>\n

November 28, 2014 \u2013Vyacheslav Pizhanin Antratsyt warlord was killed.<\/p>\n

January 1, 2015 \u2013 Batman was killed.<\/p>\n

January 10 \u2013 Odessa brigade members were disarmed and detained.<\/p>\n

January 23 \u2013 Yevgeniy Ishchenko, Pervomaysk warlord was killed;<\/p>\n

March 1 \u2013 Sergey Kossogor, Krasnyi Luch warlord was arrested;<\/p>\n

May 23 \u2013 Aleksey Mozgovoy was killed;<\/p>\n

May 26 \u2013 Aleksandr Gaidei, Sverdlovsk warlord fled to Russia;<\/p>\n

July 29 \u2013 The battalion of Sergey Motonakha (Rovenky warlord) was disarmed;<\/p>\n

\u201cI paid particular attention to the case of Batman. The investigation of his murder brought me to the topic of the illegal sale of the content of Russian humanitarian convoys in the \u201cLPR.\u201d Part of money received from the sales was then returned to the pockets of officials in the Ministry of Emergency of the Russian Federation,\u201d elaborated Sautreuil. His article, \u201cWho killed Major \u2018Batman\u2019?,\u201d was translated into English and published on UCMC\u2019s web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is quite possible that the Russian humanitarian convoys which are a powerful instrument of Russian propaganda, in fact cover the cynical and scandalous system of personal enrichment and profiteering at the expense of millions of war victims,\u201d the journalist summarized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the self-declared \u201cLuhansk People\u2019s Republic\u201d (\u201cLPR\u201d)\u00a0 took place. It was seen as a joke or farce in Kyiv, but in Luhansk the event was of high importance because of the chaos prevailing in the region, said […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":40258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":[],"categories":[705],"tags":[],"section":[648],"form":[31956],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fqe4_svVzp0; WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fqe4_svVzp0; WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-20T16:20:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-24T20:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0006.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"685\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fqe4_svVzp0; WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fqe4_svVzp0; WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2015-08-20T16:20:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-08-24T20:48:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":685,"url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0006.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0006.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0006.jpg","width":1024,"height":685},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej","name":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-08-20T16:20:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-24T20:48:39+00:00","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fqe4_svVzp0; WATCH IN ENGLISH   Kyiv, August 20, 2015. On November 4, 2014, a plebiscite to elect a leader of the | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9"},"headline":"\u201cLPR\u201d leader consolidates power through series of murders, arrests and disarmament \u2013 French journalist Pierre Sautreuil","datePublished":"2015-08-20T16:20:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-24T20:48:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#webpage"},"wordCount":736,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0006.jpg","articleSection":["Press release"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/31674-p-yer-sotrej#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9","name":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40257"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=40257"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=40257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}