Intelligence: Putin's aide Surkov traveled to the Donbas and met with separatists
Ukrainian intelligence has evidence that Russian presidential aide, Vladislav Surkov, has visited occupied Donbas to meet with separatists. This was reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“On the 29th of April, a closed meeting of the leaders of the so-called DPR and Russian representatives was held in Snizhne. It was attended by: presidential aide, Vladislav Surkov; the Deputy Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Lentsov; the commander of the 58th Army of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Gurulov and the commander of the 1st Army Corps, Major-General Asapov. It was also attended by four representatives of the Corporate Business circles of the region,” the statement said.
The focus of the meeting was the current situation on the front line as well as plans for further action. They also discussed “the state of the industrial infrastructure, as well as the issue of transporting production equipment from Khartsyzsk, Torez and Shahtersk to the Russian Federation.
“During the meeting, the representatives of the Russian Federation harshly criticized the activities of the leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Aleksandr Zakharchenko, as well as his inability to execute tasks assigned by the Russian command. These tasks include pushing Ukrainian forces from the positions near Avdiivka, and the distribution of financial and military assistance received from Russia,” the Ukrainian Intelligence stated.
“The Defense Minister of the so-called DPR, Vladimir Kononov, is planning to organize further armed attacks in Yasynuvata, Avdiivka, Marinka, Dokuchaievsk, Novotroitske, Mayorsk and Zaitseve.
It was previously reported that on the 30th of April, 1.1 billion rubles was allocated to the so-called DPR to fulfill its social needs. It was allocated with the assistance of Surkov.