Vladimir Antyufeyev, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, listens during an interview with a Reuters journalist in Donetsk July 25, 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Pushing Locals Aside, Russians Take Top Rebel Posts In East Ukraine -- Reuters
(Reuters) - As Ukrainian troops gained ground in eastern Ukraine in early July, separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, a Russian national, left for Moscow for political consultations.
After what he described as successful talks with unnamed people there, he returned to the rebel stronghold of Donetsk to introduce a new senior figure in his self-proclaimed republic, a compatriot seasoned in the pro-Russian separatist movement in Moldova and a war between Russia and Georgia.
Vladimir Antyufeyev was named "deputy prime minister" by Borodai on July 10, one of several native Russians to have taken charge of the separatist rebellion in Ukraine's eastern regions.
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My Comment: The locals are fighting the war .... but Moscow wants to manage the political aspects of this conflict. The appointment of Vladimir Antyufeyev is a sign that Moscow wants it's man in charge if (and when) the political discussions between Kiev and the separatists forces begin. Everyone recognizes that in order for this conflict to end .... a political resolution and agreement will need to be reached. If not .... partisan and guerrilla warfare will a fact for life in this part of Ukraine for years .... a condition that no one really wants. But in the event that there is no political solution to the conflict .... Vladimir Antyufeyev is also the man who knows how to cause havoc and mayhem for Ukraine federalist forces in this part of the country .... a fact that both Moldova and Georgia can bitterly attest to.
3 comments:
No one paid attention to Moldova.
A few journalists might have wrote stories about the sorry state of the Moldovia in the early 1990s and of Moldovan women ending up in the European sex trade but that is about it.
From Moldova to Ukraine
From Slovenia 1991 (what?) to the Yugoslavian civil war with 3 acts).
Rinse Repeat.
You said Moscow would be escalating the conflict. I was confused exactly how. I still don't know many of the particulars, but it appears that you have given us one of them Vladimir Antyufeyev.
I figure the more I read and know the less i will like it.
The big weapon that Moscow will be using in the next few months is economic. The focus is on natural gas and other energy products .... but Russia has already signaled that they are going to annul all free trade and non-tariff agreements with Ukraine. All of these economic pressure points are going to produce a rough winter in Ukraine .... and in a country that is deeply divided .... it does not take much for everyone to get upset very quickly.
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