Leonid Pasechnik

Russian separatist leader

Леонид Иванович Пасечник
Леонід Іванович ПасічникLeonid Pasechnik (cropped, 2022-02-21).jpg
Pasechnik in 2022
Acting Head of the Lugansk People's Republic (Russia)[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 October 2022Preceded byHimself as the Head of the Lugansk People's Republic3rd Head of the Luhansk People's Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 November 2018
Acting from 24 November 2017Prime MinisterSergey KozlovPreceded byIgor PlotnitskyMinister of State Security of the Lugansk People's RepublicIn office
9 October 2014 – 28 November 2017PresidentIgor PlotniskyPreceded bypost established Personal detailsBorn (1970-03-15) 15 March 1970 (age 52)
Voroshilovgrad, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet UnionPolitical partyPeace to Luhanshchyna (2014–present)
United Russia (2021–present)AwardsMedal For Military Service to UkraineMilitary serviceAllegiance Ukraine
 RussiaBranch/serviceFlag of the Security Service of Ukraine.svg Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
Luhansk People's Republic Ministry of State Security of the Luhansk People's RepublicYears of service2014–2017RankMajor General (MSS)

Leonid Ivanovich Pasechnik (Russian: Леони́д Ива́нович Па́сечник, Ukrainian: Леонід Іванович Пасічник; Leonid Ivanovych Pasichnyk; born 15 March 1970) is a Russian and Ukrainian politician is serving as the acting head of the Lugansk People's Republic from 4 October, 2022.

He served as President of the breakaway Lugansk People's Republic since 2018 to 2022. He previously served as the partially recognized republic's Minister of State Security from 2014 to 2017.[2][3][4][5] He has continued to serve as the acting Head of the Luhansk People's Republic after Russia's annexation of the self-proclaimed state.

Biography

Background and military career

Pasechnik's father worked in Soviet law enforcement,[5] for the OBKhSS, for 26 years.[4][5] In 1975 the Pasechnik family moved to Magadan in the Russian Far East[5] where Pasechnik's father was associated with gold mine operations.[4]

Pasechnik graduated the Donetsk Military-Political College and worked for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Luhansk Oblast as a chief of a detachment combating contraband operations[5] and the chief of the Stakhanov district detachment.[4] On 15 August 2006 he became famous for intercepting large quantities of contraband at Izvaryne border checkpoint ($1.94 mln and 7.24 mln Russian rubles), at the same time refusing a bribe out of principle.[4][5]

In March 2007 SBU Lieutenant Colonel Pasechnik received from the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko a medal For Military Service to Ukraine, "for showing integrity and professionalism in the line of duty".[4]

Career in the Luhansk People's Republic

In 2014 he sided with pro-Russian militants, becoming on 9 October 2014 a minister of State Security for the self-proclaimed state Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).[4][5]

On 21 November 2017, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of Luhansk in what appeared to be a power struggle between the head of the republic Igor Plotnitsky and the (sacked by Plotnitsky) LPR appointed interior minister Igor Kornet.[6][7] Three days later the website of the separatists stated that Plotnitsky had resigned "for health reasons. Multiple war wounds, the effects of blast injuries, took their toll."[8] The website stated that Pasechnik had been named acting leader "until the next elections."[8] Russian media reported that Plotnitsky had fled the unrecognised republic on 23 November 2017 to Russia.[9] On 25 November the 38-member People's Council of the LPR unanimously approved Plotnitsky's resignation.[10] Pasechnik declared his adherence to the Minsk accords, claiming "The republic will be consistently executing the obligations taken under these agreements."[11] On 30 March 2018 Pasechnik stated "Our [LPR] experience can help all regions of Ukraine eventually gain freedom and independence, and then we can together declare a new Ukraine in which representatives of different nationalities and cultures will freely live."[12] (While meeting people living in territory controlled by LPR in the summer of 2019) Pasechnik stated: "It does not mean, that we will return back into Ukraine. This is the only way to stop this madness, this war. You should understand that we, as a sovereign state will be a state within the state – that will be our special status".[13]

On 6 December 2021, Pasechnik became a member of the Russian ruling party United Russia.[14] United Russia chairman Dmitry Medvedev personally handed him his party ticket during the party's annual congress in Moscow.[14]

2022 developments

On 27 March 2022, Pasechnik said that the Luhansk People's Republic may hold a referendum to join Russia in the near future.[15][16] The authorities of the Luhansk People's Republic eventually scheduled a "referendum" on the republic's entry into Russia as a federal subject for 23–27 September.[17]

On September 30 2022, together with other pro-Russian occupation heads Denis Pushilin, Volodymyr Saldo and Yevgeny Balitsky, Pasechnik attended in Moscow the ceremony in which Vladimir Putin formally announced the annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Executive Order on Acting Head of Lugansk People's Republic".
  2. ^ Леонид Пасечник стал и.о. главы ЛНР
  3. ^ Анатолий Антонов возглавил Министерство госбезопасности ЛНР
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Former SBU agent, whom Yushchenko gave a medal. Who is the new leader of "LPR" (Бывший СБУшник, которому дал медаль Ющенко. Кто такой новый главарь "ЛНР"). Espreso.tv. 24 November 2017
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Who is Pasechnik and what type of conflict he had with Plotnitsky (Кто такой Пасечник и какой конфликт был у него с Плотницким). DNR 24. 24 November 2017
  6. ^ "Kremlin 'Following' Situation in Ukraine's Russia-Backed Separatist-Controlled Luhansk". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.
  7. ^ "Luhansk coup attempt continues as rival militia occupies separatist region". The Independent. 22 November 2017.
  8. ^ a b Ukraine rebel region's security minister says he is new leader , Reuters (24 November 2017)
    Separatist Leader In Ukraine's Luhansk Resigns Amid Power Struggle, Radio Free Europe (24 November 2017)
  9. ^ "Захар Прилепин встретил главу ЛНР в самолете в Москву". meduza.io.
  10. ^ "Народный совет ЛНР единогласно проголосовал за отставку Плотницкого" (in Russian). Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  11. ^ Lugansk People’s Republic head resigns, TASS news agency (24 November 2017)
  12. ^ "ЛНР have declared readiness to share experience with other areas of Ukraine" (in Russian). Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  13. ^ Donbas: The new repertoire, The Ukrainian Week (28 September 2019)
  14. ^ a b Ukraine conflict: Putin invites separatist leaders into his party. The Times (6 December 2021)
  15. ^ "Leader of Kremlin-Backed Separatists in Ukraine Planning 'Referendum' to Join Russia".
  16. ^ "Leader of east Ukraine separatist region says it may hold vote on joining Russia". The Times of Israel.
  17. ^ Новости, Р. И. А. (20 September 2022). "Референдум о вхождении ЛНР в состав России пройдет с 23 по 27 сентября". РИА Новости (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  18. ^ Landay, Jonathan (30 September 2022). "Defiant Putin proclaims Ukrainian annexation as military setback looms". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.

External links

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