Alexander Zakharchenko is the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, which is not recognized by the international community. In a rare interview, he says his greatest hope is that Moscow will annex his territory just as it did Crimea.
The meeting takes place in an inconspicuous building on a commercial street in downtown Donetsk. There is no sign to indicate who resides behind the door where guards armed with automatic rifles are posted. After a brief walk up the stairs to the second floor, a man in a blue sweater whose right leg is wrapped in a bandage, sits behind a desk in a study. Two months ago, a sniper's bullet slammed into his lower leg. The incident occurred during fighting over the Ukrainian town of Debaltseve, which in February fell to the separatists who now control Donetsk.
The man at the desk is Alexander Zakharchenko, the "leader," head of government and commander-in-chief of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. He has the rank of major. After the separatists' victory in Debaltseve, the neighboring Luhansk rebel republic even awarded him the rank of general. Zakharchenko is a wanted man in the rest of Ukraine, where he is charged with establishing a terrorist organization. His name also appears on US and EU sanctions lists, which prevents him from traveling to the West. The fact that his office on University Street in Donetsk is so inconspicuous is a precaution. The head of the separatist republic has already survived one assassination attempt. As a result, he is unwilling to move to the former governor's administration building, where the government is now headquartered. The tall, exposed building on Pushkin Boulevard would be an easy target in an air strike.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-donetsk-separatist-leader-on-hopes-for-annexation-a-1031270.html#ref=rss
= new reply since forum marked as read