A man rides a bicycle by a portrait of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin set into a barricade, in the center of
Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, May 10, 2014.
Posted on 05/15/2014 7:12:50 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
SLAVIANSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW (Reuters) - He is a man with three names, sought by Ukrainian intelligence as the top Russian operative in the separatist east. He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tinted windows, and his aim is to "destroy" Ukrainian forces that venture onto his territory.
In a leaflet distributed this week in the rebel Donetsk region, "Colonel Igor Strelkov" assumed command of all rebel forces there and called for Russian army help to ward off what he calls the threat from the Kiev "junta" and from NATO.
To Kiev and its Western allies, Strelkov is living proof that Moscow is behind the uprising in eastern Ukraine, despite its denials, and trying to replay the scenario that saw it seize the Crimea province in March.
The separatists have said little about his identity. He is known to the fighters he commands as "Strelok" - "the Shooter". Kiev says he is actually an agent of Russia's GRU military intelligence. Residents of a Moscow suburb say he is a mild-mannered neighbor they have known for years as Igor Girkin.
Whether Strelkov, Strelok or Girkin, he is now rarely glimpsed in public, driven behind tinted windows around the town of Slaviansk, which his men have turned into the heavily fortified redoubt of their insurrection.
His leaflet, published on the website of separatist politician Pavel Gubarev on Monday, was issued in the name of "The Commander-in-Chief of the Donetsk People's Republic".
He gave Ukrainian troops 48 hours to "pledge an oath of allegiance to the Donetsk People's Republic or leave its territory". Members of the National Guard and other Ukrainian forces would be detained or "destroyed on the spot".
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
Time to call 1-800-GET-DRON(E)
> He is a man with three names, sought by Ukrainian intelligence as the top Russian operative in the separatist east. He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tinted windows, and his aim is to “destroy” Ukrainian forces...
Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
I wondered here at FR a couple of days ago if we could start a lend-lease program for drones for Ukraine.
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