24 July 2014
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has irrefutable evidence of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu’s involvement in transferring Russia military hardware to terrorists in the Donbas region, said on July 23 Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the ministry. This hardware includes tanks, artillery, Grad rocket launchers and possibly the Buk-1 anti-aircraft system that was used to shoot down the Malaysian Airliner, he said. Shoygu is currently singlehandedly handling the supply of arms to terrorists, which was earlier done by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, he said. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant for Shoygu.
Aleksandr Borodai, the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, acknowledged that he is “in regular contact” with the Russian FSB, the BBC news agency reported on July 23. He repeated the separatists’ line that they receive support from the Russian people, but not the government. He also denied being an FSB agent, as alleged by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
Zenon Zawada: With evidence of Russian involvement in fueling the Donbas war mounting, its leaders will face legal responsibility. On the information front, global opinion will continually mount against the Russian government, particularly if Shoygu’s involvement in the shooting of Flight MH17 is proven.