The arrested suspected killer of Alexander Zakharchenko worked for the SSU and cooperated with foreign security agencies. The Donetsk officials shared new details of the assassination which happened on August 31.
Sergey Arsenichev with the details.
Alexander Pogorelov, 40, born in Donetsk codenamed "Legionary" after joining the SSU. He was recruited by some Sergey in Kiev in 2014. The investigation discovered his name — Sergey Motorin, 5th Division of the SSU Counterintelligence Department. In 2016, the new agent was summoned to complete his training.
Alexander Pogorelov, suspect: "At that range, I studied explosives and medicine, learned how to assemble explosives and remotely activate them".
After that, Legionary was summoned to Kiev again where he received another task from the head of the 5th Division Roman Chervinsky.
Alexander Pogorelov: "During the meeting with Sergey, Roman said that their top priority was to neutralize the head of the republic Alexander Zakharchenko".
They chose a restaurant at the center of the city as the place of the assassination. Here's the police footage: The disguised explosive had a camera so that the assassin could blow up the right target. It also had a dozen batteries to ensure autonomous operation for half a year. Pogorelov was the one who installed the bomb.
Alexander Pogorelov: "We weren't sure at what table at the Pushkin restaurant the leader of the Republic would sit, so Roman and Sergey told me to install the explosive in the restroom of the Pushkin restaurant. I received the disassembled bomb from their courier in Donetsk. I took the parts to the Pushkin restaurant. I glued them together under the sink".
However, the bomb was timely discovered. The first attempt failed.
The Pushkin restaurant hasn't opened since an IED was discovered there that was aimed to kill Zakharchenko. Curiously enough, the OSCE headquarters are right across the boulevard from here. The Separ cafe, where Zakharchenko was killed on August 31, is 300 meters from here. It appears that several SSU diversion groups were working in Donetsk simultaneously.
There are two large portraits in front of the Sepor cafe — Alexander Zakharchenko and his bodyguard Vyacheslav Dotsenko. According to the testimony of the suspect, there, the bomb was installed by his colleagues.
Alexander Pogorelov: "The device itself was different from any explosives previously used by the SSU. The device was given to the SSU by an American security agency. It's expensive and costs more than $10,000".
In addition, it was discovered that the suspect was responsible for several other terrorist attacks that killed well-known militants. His testimony includes those episodes as well.
Sergey Arsenichev, Vasily Kharitonov Alexey Yaldin, Oleg Bondarenko, and Andrey Rudenko Vesti, Donetsk
