The Secret Story Behind the Assassination of Beloved Donbass Rebel Leader Zakharchenko (Russian TV)
Fascinating additional information, including from a captured Ukrainian assassin
Transcript:
The cowardly murder of DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko that happened one month ago didn't break the people of Donbass. The investigation of the attack is still going on. Today, we present you exclusive footage from our special correspondent Alexander Rogatkin.
Nobody except the experts has seen this footage. The surveillance camera of the Separatist Cafe is impartially filming the last seconds of the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic. Here comes his cortege. His guards check the perimeter. One of his guards entered first to check the interior. After that, Alexander Zakharchenko entered the building, followed by another guard. The bomb immediately detonated.
Alexander Zakharchenko used to go straight to this corner where a boiling teapot was always waiting for him on a small stove. There was always a "the table is mined" sign at his table. Not so funny anymore.
The Separatist Cafe was a response to the Hit Squad Bar in Kiev. The hall was decorated in a military-partisan style. Criminology expert Alexander Konoplya was the first one to begin investigating the scene.
Alexander Konoplya, criminologist: "We worked for a week. Every day from morning to evening, we were sifting through the rubble collecting every wire, circuit, and so on every clue that could help us continue our investigation."
The bomb was planted in the ceiling of the entrance. Its explosive force was equivalent to 3 pounds of TNT.
Alexander Konoplya: The height of the wind porch was 7.5 feet. But he was also taller than average. One of our experts stood there, he's 6'1", and there were 16 inches between his head and the entrance's ceiling.
So the distance to the bomb was the same?
Yes.
There's nothing left of the entrance. Metal shrapnel is lying all over the floor. The bomb was filled with it. It's still unclear who planted the bomb and how. Right now, we're in another mirror-like room of the Separatist Cafe. The entrance is completely intact. Look, the bomb was planted here, in the ceiling. In order to plant it there, one had to remove the panels. It's impossible to do without a stepladder. The bomb was wired to these electric lamps. Someone took the time to carefully prepare the assassination of the DPR leader. The bomb was detonated at the precise moment that the DPR leader walked beneath it. Both Zakharchenko and his guard, Vyacheslav Dotsenko, who was walking behind him, were killed.
Alexander Konoplya: It takes two or three steps for a person as tall as Alexander Zakharchenko to walk across the entrance. It takes about two or three seconds.
So they calculated it precisely.
Yes. I'm sure that the bomb had additional functions. It might have had a microphone. Also, it could have, it must have, had a video camera.
Two seconds is a moment too brief to recognize the person and detonate the bomb. It means the cortege was being watched, or there were several cameras. There's also a chance that the assassins connected to the cafe's surveillance cameras and saw everything as clearly as we do now.
Intelligence hasn't yet disclosed if the cameras captured the assassins. After the attempt of the Ukrainian Army to forcefully subdue the DPR, ended with a humiliating defeat in 2014, Kiev declared surgical terror. Undercover units were deployed to Donbass to sabotage, provoke, and assassinate. The most notorious commanders were hunted.
Over the entrance of an ordinary Donetsk building, there's a memorial plaque for Motorola. The legendary commander rented an apartment in this high-rise building. He died in an elevator explosion despite two soldiers guarding the entrance. Here's the person who planted the bomb.
Alexander Pogorelov, suspect: “The guard made a mistake. They searched me but didn't check the bag of the second agent. He had an improvised bomb laying under the food. We easily accessed the elevator.”
Together with another SBU agent, Alexander Pogorelov, they easily opened the door of the elevator whose car was one floor lower.
- Who opened the elevator?
Alexander Pogorelov: My partner Yura. He used the operator key. He gave me an improvised explosive to put on top of the car.
And where did you put it?
I took the improvised explosive and put it over the lamp here. There was a wire, I plugged it into the hole.
What was the wire for?
I think it powered the camera.
The camera was streaming online. The observer could see Motorola and his guard enter the elevator car.
Alexander Pogorelov: The explosion was triggered from Kiev with a cell phone.
Alexander Pogorelov was recruited in Kiev. The citizen of Donetsk offered his services voluntarily. His code name was Legionary. He claims he was paid $5,000 for assassinating Motorola. He immediately started getting ready for a new assassination, of Alexander Zakharchenko in the Pushkin restaurant. Following the same scenario, Pogorelov planted a bomb in the toilet.
Alexander Pogorelov: The bomb had two parts. The first one, the camera, was planted here and the bomb was planted under this panel. It was the same color as the cabinet.
Couldn't the janitors find it?
They failed to notice it. It was attached with double-sided tape and looked like a decorative panel.
The bomb was produced in Kiev, had powerful batteries, and could remain in standby mode for several months. The DPR security services managed to locate and defuse the bomb.
Here it is. It's heavy. There are tiny locks here.
So it's made of two parts? Plastic explosive?
Yeah, right.
How much?
A lot. That's one hell of a bomb.
Right. I see it clearly.
Legionary received another bonus for planting the explosive. But he had to return a part of it.
Alexander Pogorelov: They asked me to return a part of it.
How much?
About $1,000.
What was the initial sum?
$2,500.
Pogorelov claims that his handler Sergey, from Kiev, trained another unit to assassinate the DPR leader. It was supposed to plant a bomb in the Separatist Cafe.
Alexander Pogorelov: It had an antenna that could receive signals from a distance of over a mile. with minor interference caused by buildings. In general, it was operating with no interference.
Did they tell you where the bomb was produced?
Sergey told me the bomb was produced in the US and given to him by US intelligence.
Zakharchenko's car had special radio-jamming equipment it was supposed to cover several dozens of square yards with a radio-impregnable dome.
DPR operative: "Judging by the performance of the device which was triggered despite the operating radio-jamming system installed in one of the cars accompanying Zakharchenko we came to the conclusion that the device was designed by a foreign intelligence service".
According to Pogorelov, there was also a sniper unit. He was searching for a sniping position for them. He chose an apartment on the 23rd floor of the apartment block on Pushkin Boulevard 400 yards away from the Separatist Cafe.
Alexander Pogorelov: From here, you can clearly see Lenin Square, Gusi-Lebedi, and Pushkin Boulevard where the Pushkin restaurant is located.
Gusi-Lebedi is also a restaurant?
Yes, that's it. And there's the Pushkin restaurant.
The agents planned to buy the penthouse for $130,000. They have already allegedly paid 10% of the sum.
"A good spot. 300-400 yards is nothing for a sniper. A sniper would have definitely killed him. It's a good spot".
She comes here every day. This cemetery is called the Donetsk Sea. She's already cried her sea of tears. Only emptiness and despair remain.
Natalya Zakharchenko, widow: "My mind realizes that but I still can't believe he's gone. Maybe that's because I didn't see him much during the last few years. He wasn't home much. He was always at work and it feels like he's just busy at the moment but he'll come home eventually. He's just busy at the moment".
People keep coming here bringing flowers for the deceased leader of the DPR. A monument will be installed next year so far, the flags of the DPR and the Airborne Troop have been raised over the grave. Alexander Zakharchenko stayed true to them to the very end.
Natalya Zakharchenko, widow: “He understood the risk. He understood everything. He knew it, but... but every time he said: "I will never be a traitor, I'm ready to die for the Republic". He didn't see any other way".
Source: Vesti