04.06.2021, Moscow.
Roman Protasevich, a former editor of the Telegram channel NEXTA, who was detained in Belarus, used to shoot at civilians in Donbass previously, an officer of the press service of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Ivan Filiponenko said to reporters on June 4.
“The other day, Roman Protasevich, who committed crimes against civilians of the Republic as a member of the Azov [organization banned in Russia – Rossa Primavera News Agency’s editorial] nationalist battalion during the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbass, was detained in Minsk,” Filiponenko said.
As Filiponenko stressed, although Protasevich claims that he was just a journalist on the front lines of the Ukrainian army and did nothing wrong, but according to sources in the Ukrainian army’s Operational-Tactical Group North, “Protasevich was a sniper, and often practiced shooting [at] civilians, as well as medical personal and emergency responders who came to their aid.”
“Moreover, Protasevich was responsible for the persons wishing to earn money and ‘fight’ in Donbass on the side of the Ukrainian army passed through. The transfer from Minsk to the zone of the [so-called] ‘anti-terrorist operation’ [the way Kiev junta refers to its punitive operation – translator’s note] was $5,000, the cost included 7 days of accommodation, meals and three appearance at the first line of defense with firing of various weapons with unlimited ammunition,” the officer added.
According to Filiponenko, representatives of the public organization Come Back Alive arrived in the zone of the operation of the united forces and are collecting money to send them to Protasevich in Minsk to pay for a lawyer. The officer said that the amount of the voluntary contribution from each Ukrainian army’s soldier is $36.7.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
