MILITANTS OF DPR IN UNIFORMS OF UKRAINIAN NATIONAL GUARD ROB SKETE OF HOLY IVERIA CONVENT
The headquarters of ATO established that militants of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) conducted a commando attack with the goal of discrediting Ukrainian troops and tried to ascribe its results to the forces of the Anti-Terrorism Operation (ATO).
Military personnel note that such provocations have been arranged several times. One should recall the mortar shelling of a funeral procession in Sartan, near Mariupol, in October of this year.
For conducting the commando operations, the sabotage intelligence group usually includes troops of the special forces of the Russian federation with Ukrainian roots and who know the Ukrainian language.
These commandos were dressed in uniforms of troops of power structures of Ukraine with corresponding identification markings (chevrons, stripes, badges, and Ukrainian state symbols). The commandos traveled in vehicular transports (armored combat vehicles) with identification markings of ATO forces.
While conducting their actions on territory controlled by ATO forces, with a goal of creating assurance among eyewitnesses who are left alive, the commandos constantly emphasize their affiliation with the National Guard, Right Sector, the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as subdivisions of ATO forces.
"For any reasonable person, such conduct by people who openly loot, rob, kill, and rape should evoke suspicion and distrust. The criminal, instead of concealing himself, declares his identity to everybody," Colonel Valentin Fedichev noted. He further emphasized that it is impossible to imagine a criminal who "goes to work" with "tags" (stripes, chevrons, etc.) on himself indicating the exact name of his subdivision.
"In connection with this, we were forced to call the attention of the esteemed Metropolitan of Donetsk and Mariupol Ilarion to the impermissibility of publishing unconfirmed accusations against Ukrainian service personnel," Fedichev said.
He noted that the crime in the skete of the Holy Iveria convent (in Peski, Yasinovatsk district, Donetsk province) was committed on 18 December, and already on 18 December the metropolitan, without conducting an investigation by competent agencies and before receiving official conclusions, published through the official Internet web page of the Donetsk diocese of UPTs an angry appeal to the president of Ukraine. In the colonel's opinion, in this situation this can be equated to providing false witness. This assertion then was confirmed when several days later the cell phones of nuns that had been stolen from them by the commando group rang in Donetsk, which was temporarily occupied by the DPR, which rules out their confiscation by real Ukrainian troops.
"Your letter to the president of Ukraine was immediately, already on 19 December, used by the real thieves and organizers of the provocation, commandos of Russian special forces and their DPR puppets," the officer at the ATO headquarters told Metropolitan Ilarion. Confirmation of this was an article in the Russian segment of the Internet citing you, esteemed metropolitan, on 19 December, and then, on 20 December, your letter to the president of Ukraine was registered on the official on-line edition of the Donetsk diocese of UPTs.
In addition, the colonel thinks that one should be alert to the incorrect name "Ukrainian National Guard," when the real name is the National Guard of Ukraine.
--"The ATO headquarters also calls attention to the fact that the buildings of UPTs churches are being actively used by 'true believers,' the militants of the DPR, as warehouses for weapons and ammunition. This happened in the city of Slaviansk (four truckloads of ammunition were removed), in Siviatogorsk, and not only there," Valentin Fedichev said. "We do not know whether the weapons and ammunition were in the churches in accordance with the wish of UPTsMP clergy or without their wish.
The colonel emphasized that in time all that is secret will be revealed. This was reported by the official website of the Donetsk provincial administration. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 January 2015)
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