The DPR said SBU officer ordered the murders of separatist commanders Givi and Motorola
A spokesperson of the so-called Ministry of State Security or MGB of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Maria Petrova, said that the man behind the killings of the separatist leaders Arsen Pavlov, aka “Motorola” and Mikhail Tolstykh, aka “Givi”, is a high-ranking SBU officer named Alexei Petrov, Rossiya 24 TV channel reported.
Petrova alleges that there are special units in the Department of Counterintelligence of the SBU that are conducting a "terrorist war" against the Donbas. These units, according to the DPR, were created with the financial support of the United States.
A spokesperson for the MGB also noted that shortly after the murder of the Tolstykh, on February 14, 2017, Alexei Petrov was appointed the head of the counterintelligence department. She claims that the new post allows Petrov to coordinate the activities with SBU Chairman Vasyl Hrytsak and U.S. representatives.
Earlier, the DPR stated that the head of the SBU directorate in the Donetsk region, Vitaliy Marikov was involved in the murder of Motorola.
Givi was killed on February 8, 2017 in an explosion in his office in Makiivka. Motorola died in an elevator explosion on October 16, 2016.