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Biography, life story of Bolotov Valery Dmitrievich
Bolotov Valery Dmitrievich - state, military and public figure South-Eastern regions of Ukraine. Since April 2014, the leader of the unrecognized public education"Lugansk People's Republic".
Childhood, youth
Valery Bolotov gave birth on February 13, 1970 in Stakhanov (Lugansk region, Ukraine). He received his secondary education at local school No. 18.
At the end of the 80s of the last century, Valery Dmitrievich was drafted into the army. The young man served in the Vitebsk Airborne Division. During his service, he took an active part in armed conflicts on the territory of Yerevan and Nagorno-Karabakh (in 1989 and 1990, respectively). Upon completion of his service, he received the rank of senior sergeant in the airborne reserves.
After Valery Bolotov returned to civilian life, he became closely involved in his education. Valery Dmitrievich managed to master two specialties at once - “technological engineer” and “economist”.
Activity
In March 2014, several videos spread across the Internet in which an unknown man in a mask called on everyone to take up arms and protect their homes from the nationalist Euromaidan militants. The man and his two assistants did not give their names. Instead, they called themselves the Army of the Southeast. For a long time none of the journalists could figure out what kind of person he was and what his actual interests were regarding the current difficult situation on the territory of Ukraine.
On April 5, 2014, a new video featuring the Army of the South-East appeared online. This time the man took off his mask and said that his name was Valery Dmitrievich Bolotov. Bolotov said that the Security Service of Ukraine, opposing Kyiv authorities, detained. However, he still called on his compatriots to resist injustice and continue to defend their lands. On April 6 of the same year, the local headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine was captured in the center of Lugansk. Activists took to the streets, armed with the flag of the airborne troops Russian Federation. Valery Bolotov was one of the activists of the seizure.
CONTINUED BELOW
On April 21, 2014, residents of the city of Lugansk elected Valery Bolotov as people's governor of the Lugansk region. Having assumed this position, Valery Dmitrievich first of all stated that in the shortest possible time he was going to start reassigning the judicial system and law enforcement agencies of the Lugansk region to the people's council.
Valery Dmitrievich Bolotov is actually considered the commander of the Army of the South-East.
The actions of Valery Bolotov did not go unnoticed. The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine assigned him the status of a terrorist.
Sanctions against Bolotov
On April 29, 2014, the European Union included Bolotov in the list of persons subject to sanctions, that is, Valery Dmitrievich was prohibited from moving around the world and frozen assets in the European Union. On May 13th of the same year, similar sanctions against Bolotov were imposed by the Canadian authorities.
Attempted murder
On May 13, 2014, at about eleven o’clock in the morning, Ukrainian time, an attempt was made on Valery Dmitrievich. Bolotov received gunshot wound in the chest. The bullet hit the lungs. After the incident, the politician was taken to a private clinic, where experienced doctors did everything to save his life and health. Many are inclined to believe that the attack was carried out by representatives of the Kyiv junta.
Personal life
At one time, Valery Bolotov got married. The marriage produced children. Due to the safety of Bolotov’s family members, their names and ages are not disclosed. Only approximate dates of birth of children are known - 2001-2002 and 2007-2008. From the very beginning of his public activities, Valery Dmitrievich preferred to keep the remaining details of his private life strictly secret.
Events in Ukraine are bringing new political leaders of a multi-local scale into the arena. If earlier few people in Lugansk knew who Valery Bolotov was, today this man is on everyone’s lips.
The southeastern partisans first appeared in mid-March. Armed and masked men reported that people's squads had been formed in the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov regions that did not recognize the Kyiv authorities. According to the partisans, in every southeastern city there was a detachment that was subordinate to them, and the total number of rebels even exceeded the number of the Ukrainian army. At first, many did not believe such statements and even considered it a joke. After all, almost anyone can record their own message in camouflage and with an MMG machine gun. However, after this statement, new appeals appeared, clarifying the number of partisans, the presence of weapons, as well as describing the personnel composition of the rebels, which included former military and police officers. Many tried to consider these messages to be fake, but after some time everything became clear. On April 1, the militias again appeared with a statement with an ultimatum to the Kyiv authorities demanding that they refuse to hold presidential elections and hold a referendum on expanding the rights of the southeast. The deadline for fulfilling the ultimatum was April 5. If the Kiev authorities ignore this appeal, the militia threatened to mobilize their cadres and begin active actions. In Kyiv, this appeal was probably regarded as an April Fool's joke. On April 5, on the eve of the expiration of the ultimatum, the Security Service of Ukraine arrested several activists in Lugansk. In addition, it was announced that a firearm had been seized.
Valery Bolotov: photo
Immediately after this, one last statement from one person appeared online. He announced that the police refused to cooperate with the militia and were helping the SBU detain activists. This man announced that there would be a protest on April 6, and then took off his mask. Then the open confrontation began. This person turned out to be Valery Dmitrievich Bolotov, a resident of the Lugansk region. Today his photo is familiar to everyone who follows the events developing in the southeast of Ukraine, where the Kyiv authorities are conducting anti-terrorist operations.
Valery Bolotov. Lugansk: biography
Bolotov was born in the city of Stakhanov in 1970. In 1988, he enlisted in the army and served in the Vitebsk Airborne Division. As a paratrooper, he participated in several armed conflicts, including in Nagorno-Karabakh and Yerevan. He was demobilized from the army with the rank of senior sergeant, after which he studied to become a process engineer and economist. Further, the biography of Valery Bolotov says that he later headed the union of veterans of the airborne troops of Lugansk. Before this appeal, few people in the region knew about him. However, already in early April they learned about Bolotov even in Kyiv. He took an active part in the seizure of the Lugansk SBU department. Together with his associates, he still holds this building, although now in the status of the people's governor. On April 21, 2014, Bolotov was declared governor by a “people’s gathering.” Already on April 28, under his leadership, a congress of representatives of territorial communities and public organizations of the region was held. As a result of the congress, the sovereign Lugansk People's Republic was proclaimed. At the same time, the upcoming referendum on May 11 was announced.
A previously unknown reserve sergeant, as a result of his activities, not only led the Lugansk Republic, but also became famous in the West, and they know very well who Valery Bolotov is in Lugansk. The European Union and Canada included it in the list of sanctions. Naturally, Kyiv could not look at this activity calmly. Already on May 13, an assassination attempt was made on the leader of the Lugansk Republic, as a result of which Bolotov was wounded in the shoulder. Despite the heavy blood loss, doctors saved him. The militia themselves say that the shots were fired from an ambush. This was most likely done by a sniper. Nevertheless, Bolotov was able to be brought to Russia, which caused a whole scandal in Kyiv. According to the State Border Service, they had no complaints against Bolotov. After short-term treatment in Russia, the leader of the Lugansk Republic returned to Lugansk, and again there was a scandal. Firstly, when crossing the border, a shootout broke out. According to border guards, about a hundred militia took part in the battle, who opened fire at the checkpoint, as a result of which Bolotov managed to re-enter the country.
Today Valery Bolotov does not give up and is waging his war, saying that he will try to justify the trust of the Luhansk region residents who elected him. But the outcome of this confrontation is still difficult to predict.
Updated
On Espresso.TV, a refugee from the Lugansk region made a statement that Bolotov was a driver and security guard for the son of the current head of the Party of Regions, Alexander Efremov.
At a press conference of the LPR, Valery Bolotov said that President Poroshenko’s peace plan is impossible to implement.
07/04/2014 Bolotov dismissed the LPR government. Marat Bashirov, a member of the Expert Council of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, was appointed Prime Minister.
IN Lately very often they talked about the return of Valery Bolotov to the “LPR”. Moreover, Bolotov actively advocated the unification of the “LPR” and “DPR” into one quasi-state for stronger resistance to Ukraine.
However, Bolotov, who resigned as head of the “LPR” in 2014, died today near Moscow. Let's remember who he was.
Biography
From the biography of the leader of the Lugansk separatists it is known that he grew up in the city of Stakhanov, Lugansk region, studied at local school No. 18. In 1988-1990, Bolotov served in the Vitebsk division Airborne troops USSR, took part in hostilities in hot spots of the country - Tbilisi, Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh. He finished his service with the rank of senior sergeant. After the service I received two higher education- economic and engineering-technical. He headed the public organization "Union of Airborne Veterans".
According to the former people's deputy Ukraine Vladimir Landik, Bolotov previously worked for regional Alexander Efremov. He announced this on Espreso.TV.
“They explained to me that it was Bolotov in the Krasny Luch area, where Efremov has a machine-building plant, where he was the “supervisor” of the excavations, the head of security and the driver. I don’t know him personally. I am inclined to believe what my friends say,” he noted.
According to him, the attitude of the militants towards Efremov indicates their cooperation.
“If a person, Efremov, is allowed there, it means he works with them, if he works, that means he finances them, and this means from 8 to 15 years in prison,” Landik emphasized.
This information is confirmed by other sources. According to the former head of the SBU Department in the Lugansk region, Alexander Petrulevich, Bolotov worked for Efremov as a “supervisor” of illegal mines - diggings.
“Who works in the mines? Those who have no other way to feed their families. They would be happy to sit in offices, only in the Lugansk region there are no jobs. People, risking their lives, go down into the pit. Bolotov collected money from them, reported to Efremov, I gave the tax cops something, and that’s it: no one noticed or closed these illegal mines,” Petrulevich commented on Bolotov’s activities in the media.
According to gordonua.com, with reference to an interview with Alexander Petrulevich, Valery Bolotov subsequently became part of a sabotage group formed by the FSB and the GRU of the Russian Federation, which was “tasked with collecting intelligence information about the deployment and redeployment of Ukrainian military units, radar stations, organizing terrorist attacks, blocking military columns and the like." Conditions and approaches to the recruitment of Bolotov by the Russian special services on this moment unknown.
Bolotov himself, in an interview with the Russian media Anna-news, which promotes the activities of militants, admitted that he began organizing his gangster formation back in 2013, when Euromaidan was just beginning. Then, according to him, he first came to the attention of the Ukrainian special services. Therefore, they had to make their headquarters “mobile” in order to confuse the SBU’s tracks. However, some of the participants in its formation were subsequently arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine.
In March 2014, Bolotov anonymously published videos with an underground group of militants, where he, hiding his face behind a mask, called for the creation of an “Army of the South-East” “to protect against nationalists.” April 5, 2014, already under own name and without hiding his face, Valery Bolotov reported that the Security Service of Ukraine had detained a sabotage group of opponents of the Kyiv authorities and that residents of the south-eastern region should openly confront the so-called “junta”. The next day, an assault was launched on the SBU Directorate in the Luhansk region, after which the active phase of the development of separatism in the Luhansk region began. Under pressure from a radical group of separatists from the Lugansk detention center, a detained group of saboteurs was released, who, together with Bolotov, set up their headquarters in the seized building of the SBU. Since that time, the so-called “Army of the South East” has begun recruiting militant groups into its ranks and distributing captured weapons to everyone who had the desire and was ready to resist the new government in Kyiv.
According to Ukrainian media, citing sources in law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, during the seizure of the SBU building in Lugansk and the subsequent coordination of the actions of militants in the city, representatives of the Russian special services, who at that time were secretly in the region, were involved. In particular, employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation were seen storming the SBU building, interrogating SBU employees, and distributing weapons to the most active militants. According to Petrulevich, one of the FSB representatives personally interrogated him, showed him his documents, hiding his face under a mask and the initials on his ID. Employees of the Russian special services were unhappy that no blood was shed during the seizure of the building and that there was no resistance from the security forces to organized gangs of militants. If such events develop, this would give the Russian Federation grounds to send its troops into the Lugansk region under the pretext of “protecting the Russian-speaking population.”
From that time on, active political activity Bolotova.
Little is known about Bolotov’s family. According to media reports, he is married. He had two children, born in 2001 and 2008.
At the head of the "LPR"
On April 11, 2014, the so-called “Joint Headquarters of the Army of the South-East”, led by Bolotov, issued an ultimatum to the Lugansk Regional Council. Within the next 10 hours, convene an emergency (extraordinary) session, at which deputies are obliged to make the following decisions: proclaim the state sovereignty of the Lugansk region; within 10 days, hold a referendum with two questions: 1. Are you in favor of the “LPR” joining the Russian Federation? 2. Are you in favor of the “LPR” joining Ukraine? Also, the headquarters of the terrorist organization "Army of the South-East" decided that weapons would be transferred only to the government that the citizens of the Lugansk region would "choose" in a referendum.
On April 14, 2014, numerous separatist groups held a planned rally near the building of the Lugansk Regional State Administration. Member of the Coordination Council of the Luhansk region Alexey Chmulenko conveyed to the regional governor the demands of the separatists: to recognize the illegitimacy of the new Ukrainian government, to recognize the legal existence of " popular movement"and release the arrested militant leaders. The deadline for fulfilling the ultimatum was set until April 16, 2014. According to media reports, then about a hundred armed militants remained in the SBU building, which was coordinated by the Russian special services.
On April 21, 2014, at the “people’s meeting” of the separatists, Bolotov was elected acting “people’s governor” of the Lugansk region after the arrest of the SBU, previously declared “people’s governor” Alexander Kharitonov. Immediately after his election, Bolotov announced the resubordination of the judicial system and law enforcement agencies to the “People's Rada” of the Lugansk region, which should be created in the near future.
On April 24, Yulia Tymoshenko arrived in Lugansk to negotiate with the militants who seized the SBU building. Negotiations with armed separatists were also conducted by the then mayor of the city, Sergei Kravchenko.
On April 29, 2014, the “people's governor” Bolotov was included in the list of persons against whom sanctions were imposed - a ban on entry and freezing of assets in the European Union. On April 29, a separatist quasi-state entity “Lugansk People's Republic” was proclaimed in Lugansk. On the same day, a group of separatists, together with radical extremists who arrived from Russian territory and acted under the guise of “tourists” (about 2000-2500 people), seized the building of the Lugansk regional administration and prosecutor’s office. Law enforcement officers were given a living corridor and they voluntarily left the building seized by the separatists. Some police officers put on St. George ribbons (a symbol of separatism and terrorism in Ukraine, which are associated with the death and torture of Ukrainian militants) and went over to the side of illegal armed separatist groups.
On May 3, 2014, Bolotov said that the terrorist organization “Army of the South-East” will defend its land from neo-fascist invaders and murderers to the last drop of blood,” but is not going to wait under siege and therefore is heading to Kiev. In fact, this became a declaration of open war Then the active phase of the Anti-Terrorist Operation of Ukraine against organized separatist gangs supported by Russian special services and officers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began.
On May 18, 2014, at the first session of the “Republican Gatherings of the LPR,” Bolotov was elected head of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic.”
On May 24, 2014, the leaders of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” signed a document on the unification of the non-existent quasi-state formation “Novorossiya”, a project of the Russian special services and the leaders of extremist neo-fascist movements in Russia.
On August 14, 2014, Bolotov, having received instructions from Russian “curators” actively operating in the territory of the captured city of Lugansk, announced his resignation from the post of head of the “LPR” and went to the territory of the Russian Federation as if to treat the consequences of his wound. His place was taken by Igor Plotnitsky, who at that time headed the “Ministry of Defense of the LPR.”
Repressive policies
During Bolotov’s leadership of the so-called “LPR,” very terrible things happened in the territory captured by militants and the Russian military. Hundreds of people with pro-Ukrainian views ended up in dungeons, in the basements of separatist field commanders, where they were brutally abused by both local militants and terrorists who came from Russia. Prisoners had their ribs and limbs broken, they were constantly beaten, raped, they were demanded around the clock to confess to non-existent crimes, suspecting them of having connections with the Ukrainian special services or the nationalist organization Right Sector. The same treatment was given to both old people, pregnant women, and minors. Many people disappeared without a trace, many died from torture and unbearable living conditions in the militants’ dungeons.
Representatives of medium and small businesses in the Lugansk region were tortured and forced to sign over their business to militants; their cars were taken away and their homes were seized. There were cases when militants kidnapped people (mostly from wealthy families), demanding ransom from relatives for their release. If the detainees refused, they were brutally killed after inhuman torture. Many shops and supermarkets were looted, others hastily closed and ceased their activities in the territory occupied by Russian-separatist forces. They were stolen from car dealerships expensive cars, in which armed groups of militants liked to circle around Lugansk, reminiscent of an analogy with the territory of Syria and Iraq captured by Islamic State militants. Shots, explosions, and human screams from torture and abuse were heard all around.
At the same time, the Russian leadership provided comprehensive information and material support to the militants at the official level. The paradox also lies in the fact that the militants who were involved in committing crimes against humanity in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine were portrayed by the official Russian media as heroes, calling them not terrorists, or even separatists, but “militias.”
The leader of the Luhansk separatists, Valery Bolotov, together with his accomplice from the terrorist organization "Army of the South-East" Vladimir Gromov (oversaw the counterintelligence of the Luhansk separatists) were engaged in the arms trade, which was captured from the Ukrainian security forces and military in the territory controlled by the militants.
These are exactly the features that the so-called. "Lugansk People's Republic" during the leadership of Bolotov.
The Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine has put Bolotov on the wanted list. He is accused of encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (Article 110, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Relations with militants
In general, it is not possible to say that the head of the separatists, Bolotov, had control over all groups of militant field commanders. In fact, during his reign in Lugansk and other cities controlled by militants, there was total anarchy and chaos. However, at that time all these processes were directly and indirectly controlled by both representatives of the Russian special services and Moscow political strategists close to the Kremlin. In particular, Pavel Karpov was noticed among Valery Bolotov’s political strategists.
Another Russian political strategist close to the Kremlin, Marat Bashirov, from July 4 to August 20, 2014, was the “Prime Minister” of the so-called “LPR”, coordinating the political process of the separatists, just like Alexander Borodai in the so-called. "DPR". Despite the fact that he officially represented the Russian business group of companies Renova, Bashirov coordinated the process of robbing the main industrial facilities of the Luhansk region and exporting the loot to Russian territory. At the same time, Bolotov was already essentially playing a decorative role for the Russian media, and all power was in the hands of Bashirov.
Bolotov’s group showed complete incompetence in managing the situation, which Bashirov actually could not solve even after his arrival in Lugansk, changing only some political configurations in the government of the so-called “LPR”. The field commanders of the militants for the most part were not controlled by the leadership of the “LPR”; only “curators” from the Russian special services or officers had influence over them Russian army. Even then, the situation of two groups participating in the events in the Luhansk region was actively demonstrated Russian authorities- "siloviki" and the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.
The most uncontrollable by Bolotov's authorities were the gangs of field commanders Alexei Pavlov ("Leshy"), Alexander Bednov ("Batman"), Alexei Mozgovoy, Nikolai Kozitsin, Pavel Dremov, Alexander Gaidei ("Rome"). There was an acute conflict between Bolotov and Mozgov. In fact, Alexey Mozgovoy, starting in April 2014, himself wanted to head the leadership in the so-called. "LPR". However, Bolotov’s Russian “curators” and Efremov’s team outplayed Mozgovoy and did not allow these field commander’s intentions to come true. After this, field commander Alexey Mozgovoy began to play his own separate political and military game.
Activities in Russia
For some time there was no information at all about Bolotov’s activities and whereabouts. This situation led to rumors that he was killed while crossing the Russian border, and that Bolotov was arrested by Russian special services. But then this information was not confirmed.
Information about Bolotov appeared in early October 2014. Thus, the former head of the “LPR” was noticed by the media on October 13 in Moscow during a meeting with State Duma deputy, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Kazbek Taisaev, who headed the Headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to provide “humanitarian assistance to the southeast of Ukraine.” Kazbek Kutsukovich Taisaev also holds the position of Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
During the meeting with Taysaev, issues of assistance to residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as issues of preparation for elections in the “LPR” were discussed. In fact, Valery Bolotov, together with Russian communists, began to steal money that was allocated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to help residents who were under the control of the so-called. "LPR". The remaining funds were used to finance the terrorist activities of the "LPR" militants.
Bolotov headed the so-called “Fund for Support of Citizens of Novorossiya,” which actually finances terrorism in Ukraine. However, most of the funds that come into the account of this structure are stolen by Bolotov himself and his henchmen.
There were also certain types of conflicts. Thus, a person unknown to the general public, Artem Artemov, Bolotov’s assistant, who was collecting funds for the “Fund for Support of Citizens of Novorossiya,” fled, taking with him all the money collected. Bolotov announced this on his pages on social networks in March 2015.
“Artem Artemov, who represented my interests on his website and collected funds to help Novorossiya, using full confidence, posted his personal accounts, disappeared and is not in touch. Please everyone who has any information about this person, report to my pages on social networks,” Bolotov’s message said.
At the end of April 2015, Bolotov appeared in Moscow at the “Forum of Hero Cities, Military and Labor Glory” organized by Russian communists. There he even found himself among the veterans who received the “70 Years of Victory” medal from the hands of the head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov.
In October, his photo appeared on the website of Russian communists. He has aged and gained weight, but still remembers how he fought with the Banderaites.
On Friday, January 27, one of the leaders of the Donbass militia, the first head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Valery Bolotov, who headed the LPR from May to August 2014, passed away. According to preliminary information from the Speaker of the Novorossiya Parliament Oleg Tsarev, he suffered a heart attack at home, in the Moscow region. What role did Bolotov play in the formation of the Donbass republics and how was he remembered - I recalled.
Who it
Valery Bolotov is a career military man who headed the civil war in Ukraine, the Union of Veterans of the Airborne Forces of the Lugansk Region. It is known that he gained combat experience during the events in Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 1980s, performing tasks as part of the Vitebsk Airborne Division. After completing his military career, he received two higher educations - economics and engineering-technical, headed a meat processing plant, and was engaged in small business.
Bolotov became famous literally in the first days of the confrontation in Donbass. On April 5, 2014, when the situation in both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions was absolutely uncertain, he publicly announced the detention (SBU) of a group of opponents of the new government in Kyiv and called on the people of the southeast of the country to begin open confrontation. It is especially important that this statement, which became one of the key moments of the “Russian Spring” in Lugansk, was made by the paratrooper in his own name, without hiding.
The call was heard. The very next day, the townspeople took control of the building of the Lugansk SBU department, Bolotov was in the forefront. Then events developed rapidly. The protesters were strengthening their control over key points in Lugansk, and Kyiv was trying, partly by force and partly through negotiations, to prevent this. On April 21, at the People's Assembly of residents of the Lugansk region, Bolotov was elected acting people's governor, after which, in fact, the formation of the army and authorities of the future Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) began. After the self-proclamation of the LPR and a popular referendum in which people voted for independence from Kyiv, at the first session of the republican assembly of the LPR, Bolotov was officially elected head of the republic. True, he held this position for a little less than three months: in August 2014, he resigned, explaining that he could not work at full capacity after being injured, and left the territory of the republic.
Leader in a Million
The fact is that immediately after the referendum, on May 13, 2014, an attempt was made on Bolotov’s life. According to the stories of his comrades, the car of the leader of the protest movement was fired at on the road, he was wounded in the upper torso. At the same time, information appeared that some citizens of Ukraine had set a reward of $1 million for Bolotov’s “head”. “But we are not afraid of anything; Kyiv will not achieve anything this way. The militia consider the planned assassination attempt to be a response to the referendum,” a member of Bolotov’s entourage told reporters.
Photo: Vitaly Belousov / RIA Novosti
The story of the assassination attempt received an unexpected development in the best traditions of a Hollywood action movie. The wounded Bolotov was taken to Russia for a medical examination, which caused an explosion of indignation in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office. The rebels then controlled Lugansk and individual cities in the region; there was no entire territory of the republic as such, and the border with Russia was controlled by Ukrainian border guards. It was not easy to get out with the wounded, but it turned out to be much more difficult to return, especially since Kyiv mobilized and made bravura provocative statements.
A few days after leaving, in the early morning, Ukrainian border guards detained Bolotov and several of his associates as they were returning. The border guards allegedly informed all law enforcement agencies in Kyiv and representatives of the ATO about this (Kyiv calls the forceful suppression of the conflict in Donbass an anti-terrorist operation) and waited for about two hours for military reinforcements. However, help never came. During this time, the LPR military arrived at the scene and, during a fierce battle, recaptured their governor. “At the Ukrainian border they showed me a copy of the arrest order and invited me to go through. After some time, our fighters arrived and forcibly repulsed me... Shooting began, my bulletproof vest saved me. I got away with a bruise internal organs“,” the first head of the LPR later shared the details. When helicopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) arrived at the scene, Bolotov and his team were already gone. Despite the relatively small scale, this special operation certainly had a serious impact on the further course of events. Representatives of the self-proclaimed republic received a boost of energy, government troops became despondent, and in Kyiv they started a large-scale showdown in order to figure out why everything turned out so badly. For example, the head of Ukraine claimed that in this story “there was betrayal.”
After these wounds visible problems Bolotov was not in good health. At public events he behaved as if absolutely healthy man. However, it was precisely the consequences of the May assassination attempt that the head of the LPR later explained his resignation.
Resignation
Bolotov’s voluntary resignation from the post of head of the Lugansk People’s Republic became known on August 14, 2014. Leader of the LPR spoke with a special video message. “The situation is difficult... The Kiev junta has sent a huge number of troops and equipment to our cities. Punishers are deliberately destroying infrastructure. It's no secret that we are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. In these circumstances, the leadership of the republic must work to the limit of its capabilities, but the consequences of injury do not allow me to work with such dedication,” he explained and assured that the struggle would end in success, “our cause is just, victory will be ours.” The politician himself named the successor, proposing Igor Plotnitsky, who until that moment served as Minister of Defense, to lead the republic.
Of course, Bolotov was telling the truth: the situation was absolutely critical. Kyiv advanced without particularly understanding the means and methods of warfare. Thus, one of the most difficult days during Bolotov’s leadership was June 2, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out an air strike on the very center of the city, on the building of the Lugansk Regional State Administration. As a result, 8 civilians were killed and several dozen were injured, including severe ones from shrapnel. Bolotov stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces used cluster bombs prohibited by international convention during this raid, and the goal was to assassinate him personally and his immediate circle. “We know for sure that Poroshenko gave the order to destroy me and other leaders... I was in the building during the raid. Most likely, this was a blow to the leaders, so I now fear for the lives of the people around me,” he explained. Among key events, which occurred during his leadership - the downing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Il-76 plane and the capture. But it was hard not only on the line of fire. Lugansk was also under complete blockade: there was practically no water, electricity, mobile communications or food in the city. There was certainly pressure on Bolotov. It is likely that the resignation was not entirely voluntary.
The fact that not everything was smooth with the transfer of power to the LPR can only be judged by the sharp jabs of the first head of the republic towards the current leader. Last December, Bolotov gave a long interview in which he impartially
Back in April 2014, the investigative department of the SBU in the Luhansk region declared Bolotov a suspect under the article of encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of the country. A court order was promptly obtained for his detention and forced delivery to court to consider the application for a preventive measure in the form of detention. However, after the incident at the border, it became clear that the chance to deliver it to Kyiv was lost, and, apparently, forever. Formally, the case remained intact, but since everyone understood that it was impossible to get hold of Bolotov, his figure on the Ukrainian agenda faded into the background.
However, the picture changed on the day of his death. Ukrainian media, politicians and activists of all stripes began to put forward various versions of what happened in their signature style. Traditional assumptions are already being thrown around that Moscow is “purging” those who have completed their task. The motive of Plotnitsky’s revenge on Bolotov, of course, is also considered by Ukrainian “experts” as worthy of attention. In general, for the coming days the number one topic in the information field of Ukraine has been determined.
Meanwhile, friends of Valery Bolotov recall that the militia leader’s heart was naughty back in the days when he headed the republic. And on January 27, 2017 it stopped completely.
