Strelkov sacks Slovyansk people's mayor Ponomariov
Igor Strelkov (L) Russian military intelligence colonel
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov has been removed from the office of the "people's mayor" of Slovyansk, the defense minister for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Strelkov, announced on June 10.
Vice News: 11. June 2014
Sloviansk's 'People’s Mayor' Rumored to Be Detained By Own Forces in Ukraine
In response to the report the fledgling rebel republic’s first deputy prime minister, Andrei Purgin, spoke with Interfax Ukraine on the rumors.
"I do not rule out that, under martial-law conditions, Igor Strelkov (the DPR defense minister based in Sloviansk) may have made a decision on some staff reshuffling, not least on the replacement of the people's mayor of Sloviansk,” Purgin said. “However, the leaders of the republic in Donetsk have yet to be notified of this decision."
Later in the day, another statement had been issued by the DPR denying the arrest.
"The information about Vyacheslav's arrest is a lie. At this moment he is at a meeting," the DPR spokesperson told Interfax.
A representative of the DPR’s Prime Minister Aleksander Borodai told VICE News that he could not comment on the matter.
But on Tuesday evening Ponomaryov’s spokesperson Stella Khorosheva told VICE News that she was still been unable to make contact with him, and that he was last seen at 10PM on Monday night.
While she did not dismiss that he may be “busy,” she also said that his “absence is shocking myself and the DPR. We don't know where he is.”
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov
Russian media outlet Life News also reported that Ponomaryov’s tearful mother did not know the whereabouts of her son. And notably the pro-Kremlin outlet shifted from calling Ponomaryov the “people’s mayor” to the “self-declared mayor.”
However, mobile phone coverage inside the city and some surrounding areas has been down for a number of days, and the possibility that Ponomaryov may have just dropped out of contact cannot be ruled out.
Other reports claimed that rebel commanders had stated that the people’s mayor was away on an operation to reconstruct lights on the outskirts of the city, which has been without electricity and water for several days following damage to infrastructure caused by heavy shelling.
Sloviansk on June 10 2014
This is not the first time that the rebel leader has been reported as detained by his own forces. Previous claims have proved to be false.
Yet there have long been rumors of a rift between the so-called people’s mayor and the political authorities of the rebel republic, who are based in Donetsk. Speaking to reporters last month, Ponomaryov claimed that “Sloviansk is the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic.” At the same press conference, he also complained that the DPR’s leaders didn’t speak to him anymore, but he didn't need them anyway.
Pro Russian separatists militia in the conflict-hit south-eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk
Valery, a rebel commander in Sloviansk, told VICE News that the only person they took orders from was Igor Strelkov, the defense minister of the republic who commands the pro-Russia militias operating in the city and surrounding region.
Ukrainian APC passing through one of the outskirts of Sloviansk - Donetsk region, June 10, 2014
Fierce fighting between the pro-Russia fighters holding Sloviansk and the Ukrainian military, which is in the second month of a Kiev-backed anti-terrorism operation aimed at dislodging the rebels from their stronghold, has forced tens of thousands of citizens to flee Sloviansk. The city has a population of nearly 130,000.
Brutal fighting between pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian army in Sloviansk has prompted a mass exodus of city residents
Following the inauguration of Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday there has been a tentative hope that peace negotiations opened with Russia on June 8 might lead to a de-escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine.
However, the rebel leaders, who are terrorists in the eyes of Kiev, have not been included in the talks. In his inauguration speech on Saturday, Poroshenko ruled out the possibility of negotiating with the rebels’ leaders who he called “evil creatures” with “the blood of the Ukrainian military and civilians on their hands.”
Ukrainian army and National guard forces are close to finish complete encirclement of Slovianask (photo from Amvrosiyivka 1)
In response to the Poroshenko’s speech, Ponomaryov called the new president, who has substantial investments in the confectionary industry, a “chocolate faggot” and an “ambassador of the devil.”
“There is nothing to talk about,” he said, in reference to the possibility of negotiations. “If I had the chance I would beat his fucking ugly mug.”
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