Posted on 05/29/2014 2:30:24 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
In one office on the sixth floor a fridge was stocked with huge cheeses and sausages bearing the logo of the Metro supermarket, a superstore close to the airport that was reportedly raided by well-organised looters after Monday's battle brought life in the district to a standstill.
In other offices, fighters found vast quantities of cigarettes, soft drinks, and shops own-brand socks and underwear stacked on desks and in wardrobes.
"We were starving on the battle field for two days," said a masked fighter, as he tested the ripeness of several mangos looted from the fruit and vegetable department that were scattered on a desk in a sixth floor office.
But looting - of which there was plenty of evidence - appears only to have been a pretext for a purge designed to assert control over the fractious rebel movement, eliminate autonomous groups, and possibly reverse a breakdown of law and order that has created increasing resentment amongst the public.
Denis Pushilin, the speaker of the republic's parliament, said the operation was aimed at "dishonest people" guilty of "criminal activity against the republic."
Access to the building had previously been tightly controlled, and the raid provided a rare opportunity to glimpse the chaotic mechanics of the pro-Russian counter revolution.
Offices were stacked with used ashtrays, discarded food and mattresses.
On the tenth floor several offices had been marked with the initials of the NKVD – Josef Stalin's feared secret police force, which the 'republic' appears to have attempted to revive.
The purge came as republican leaders dropped all pretence of Russian involvement in the uprising, with rebel leaders announcing the repatriation of dozens of bodies of Russian fighters killed in Monday's battle at the airport.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Lots of news about this today.
Rebels in Donetsk haven’t been very aggressive, likely because the rebels there wanted to look “reasonable”, and that has led to conflicts within them, especially with the Gorlovka group.
Local rebels looting stores and factories in the chaos after the airport fight was likely the last straw.
The Vostok has taken control of the Admin Building, which likely means Bezler is in charge there now. They also cleared the tent city and blockade in front of it.
Reporters were invited in to take pictures, and showed it had basically become a flophouse. they also photographed the troops taking away several people that they said were involved in te lootings. The non-commies are shutting down the commies, it seems.
For now, the DNR people are still in charge of the political side of things, but they have been definitely sent a message.
The surprise move by a group called the Vostok Battalion, a heavily armed rebel unit that has been involved in fighting against the Ukrainian army, sparked speculation about an internal coup within the fractious rebel movement.
There was also speculation that the move could have been an attempt by the leadership to purge undesirable elements with the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic.
So “Rebels” are the Russian Commies right?? I’m confused.
“could have been an attempt by the leadership to purge undesirable elements with the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic.”
Could be the case.
Lots of reports over the last few weeks of the local mafia’s running rampant on Donetsk, and some of the DNR staff being involved with them.
“So “Rebels” are the Russian Commies right?? I’m confused”
Lots of different groups involved with the rebels, but many in the DNR “government” itself, meaning the Administartion building group, are definitely Communists. They even had an office marked “NKVD”, that the Vostok people shut down and cleaned up.
Yes the Russian ethnic separatist terrorists are commies who idolize Lenin and Marx and they lament the collapse of the Soviet EVIL EMPIRE, just like their leader KGB Putin.
“We're on the same side, we're never going back to Ukraine. We're just against lawlessness and theft,” said one fighter as he picked through the chaos left behind by the building's occupiers.
They should go back to Russia.
Interesting Tweet from a Pro-Russian account, if true:
“3rd Battalion of 51st Brigade have mutinied, refused to be sent to kill their own people in East”
#7: Poster on a college door anywhere in America.
The two most interesting takeaways from this article to me were that there’s no longer any pretense that these are only locals, as they ship 30 coffins back to Russia, and that the locals are getting fed up with the situation, especially after their supermarket was looted.
Amateur Hour is over in Donetsk.
The serious people have arrived.
You sound as if this "group called the Vostok Battalion" is some new fangled group. They are not. And you give no details on their long history.
They are not Ukrianian.
They are Chechen.
They are Muslim.
They are Russian military.
They take orders from Putin.
Arrived from Russia.
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