Poroshenko sold weapons to Donbas rebels subject logo: DONBASWAR
2014-12-02
Posted by: badanov

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A former Russian GRU colonel said in a video released two days ago that Piotr Poroshenko sold weapons to Donbas rebels earlier this year before becoming president of Ukraina.

GRU Lt. Colonel Igor Bezler appeared in a video in which he said he was currently in Poltava oblast, along with an aide identified as Oleg Frolov. Frolov was erroneously reported by Ukrainian media as having been killed in a firefight in Donetsk.

Col. Bezler, just prior to appearing in the video, had resigned his command with the Donetsk rebel forces, and left with no word as to where. Speculation within the Donbas militia community was that Bezler had been wounded or killed, but later information surfaced that he had left for Russia.

In the video, Col. Bezler said that while he was chief of police in Gorlovka, large shipments of weapons were delivered to rebel forces aboard Ukrainian trucks, not in small amounts, but "truckfuls".

Among those directly involved in the arms exchange whom Bezler ties to Poroshenko are (no first name or patronymic provided) Gerasimov, member of Ukrainian parliament, whose party recently joined Poroshenko's Petro Poroshenko Bloc ruling coalition and a woman identified as Gospa. [Mrs.] Lebedev (no first name), possibly the wife of former Ukrainian defense minister Pavlo Lebedyev under Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov.

Another significant name mentioned in the video is current Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, whose role in the arms exchange was unclear.

Bezler said that during an unspecified time, trucks were being brought into Gorlovka from Ukrainian military depots every three days. Among the deals struck were rifles going for UAH $1,900 (USD $126) and APCs of unspecified types for UAH $19,000 (USD $12,600). A deal was not reached for tanks, according to Bezler.

Bezler also said that Poroshenko had been cooperating with Bezler "nicely" as he put it, and that the Antiterrorist Operation (ATO) -- the name given to Ukrainian counterinsurgency operations in Lugansk and Donetsk -- was just a cover for those arms deals.

"You still owe me UAH $480,000," said Bezler.

Poroshenko was elected president of Ukraine June 14th, 2014, and Bezler took control of the Ukrainian SBU detachment in Gorlovka in April, so the deal and exchange was effected between April, 2014 and June, 2014.

It is worth noting that many of the Donbas rebels senior formation commanders are Russian trained, some of them by the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.

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