The car blast that almost killed the LNR (“Luhansk People’s Republic”) leader Ihor Plotnytsky was immediately followed by much speculation. Who was trying to remove Plotnytsky? Was it his own “associates” from the leadership of the “people’s republic” or was it Russian special services who chose this method to reshuffle personnel in Luhansk? Or perhaps we should believe Oleh Tsarev (separatist leader wanted in Ukraine — Ed.), who rushed to blame Ukrainian terrorist groups for Plotnytsky’s attempted assassination? After all, it is very tempting to think that our intelligence services can settle accounts with traitors to the homeland. There is only one question: why?
There is no Plotnytsky as, indeed, there is no Zakharchenko (Alexander Zakharchenko is the so-called “prime minister” of LNR — Ed.); they simply do not exist. There is only some function designed to symbolize the existence of the so-called “people’s republics.” As everyone knows, Plotnytsky is certainly not the first leader of a “people’s republic.” If he does not survive the assassination attempt or goes for treatment, someone else will manage the “republic.” And this other person will follow the instructions of Vladislav Surkov (Putin’s advisor responsible for Ukraine and the Donbas invasion–Ed.) as did his predecessors.
But what really matters in Plotnytsky’s attempted assassination is that he is a thug who was given the task of “mopping up” the occupied territory of the Luhansk Oblask from other thugs. And he accomplished half of the task. Half because the local potentates — the various Mozgovoys (Aleksey Mozgovoy, an LNR “commander,” was killed in an ambush in 2015–Ed.) and other vermin — were either liquidated or expelled. But after that, the competition intensified for property and money among the gangsters in Luhansk itself.
After all, it does not matter who you think you are — the “head of a republic” or the “security minister.” What is important is that this fictional post opens your path to enrichment and you are ready to remove anyone who is in the way.
Yesterday Plotnytsky was doing the liquidating. Today there was an assassination attempt on Plotnytsky. Thugs will keep on destroying each other until an “alpha male” stands out among them who is capable of nailing the scalps of murdered “comrades” to the wall of his office. Or until the LNR gang is dismantled and its leaders face Ukrainian justice to answer for their crimes.
Unless, of course, they kill each other off before then.
