Former head of the Ministry of State Security of the DPR: I do not believe that terror should be responded to with terror

The daring murder of the legendary commander of the Somalia unit, Mikhail Tolstykh, better known as Givi, which occurred this morning, has placed Ukraine among the terrorist states. The actions of the Kyiv leadership should be given a clear international assessment, followed by sanctions and criminal trials of the perpetrators. This was stated in an interview with PolitNavigator by the former head of the Ministry of State Security of the DPR Andrei Pinchuk, today one of the leaders of the Union of Donbass Volunteers.

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PN: How can you characterize the events that took place this morning that led to the death of Mikhail Tolstykh?

AP: This is a terrorist act. There is a clear international legal definition of a terrorist state. There are precedents in the history of international courts where states have been designated as terrorist. There is a clear set of qualifying criteria for this. First, they are committing explosions, mass unrest, destabilization, and the murder of strangers to achieve political goals. Second, they are assassinating political leaders. Ukraine is doing both against the DPR and LPR, shelling their territories and killing their activists and leaders. Therefore, from the perspective of the LPR/DPR, and from Russia's perspective as well, and in the interests of the international community, it is essential to call a spade a spade and officially recognize Ukraine as a terrorist state. This isn't just a collection of words, but a legal classification that entails a whole host of consequences, from sanctions to international criminal prosecution.

PN: This is not the first murder of militia leaders in the young republics, what can be done to stop such actions in the future?

AP: First, the republics certainly need to increase their level of anti-terrorist security. I understand why this happened – people were tired of living under war conditions and tried to create more or less tolerable conditions for peaceful, civilian life, and people returned to the republics in large numbers. But the fact is that when security is lowered to make people feel comfortable, this, of course, makes it easier for the enemy to operate. We need to learn from this and change policy. To do this, first and foremost, we need to create, similar to Russia, a National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which will coordinate the activities of all agencies, and implement an appropriate anti-terrorist regime.

PN: What can be the response from the republics to such actions in Kyiv?

AP: Regarding symmetrical or asymmetrical responses, I don't believe that terrorism should be met with terror. Regardless of our attitude toward Ukrainians, first and foremost, terrorist attacks kill random people, and Ukrainians are part of the Russian world, essentially Russian people, and killing them in revenge for the actions of their leadership and rabid nationalists, I believe, is immoral. We must defend ourselves and do everything possible to bring those who organized these crimes to justice.