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| Lugansk disarms another Cossack military unit |
| 2015-06-06 |
| For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately. Lugansk interior ministry troops disarmed a Cossack military unit they say refused to join the Lugansk military and logistical system, according to Russian language news reports. According to a news article on regnum.ru, on Friday interior ministry troops and agents with the Lugansk Prosecutor General office detained an undisclosed number of Cossack fighters, military equipment and ammunition, and detained the leader of a local territorial defense battalion. The commander of the Cossack 9th Territorial Defense Battalion, identified as Ataman Aleksandr Konkin was placed under arrest along with "dozens" of fighters near the Lugansk locality of Rovenki, where the unit was based. According to the news report, the commanders of the unit has refused to become part of the unitary command system of Lugansk, and were looting and robbing citizens of Rovenki for resources. Among materiel seized were 200 cars, seven machine guns, grenade launchers with ammunition, six ammunition trucks, two BMP infantry fighting vehicles and two armored cars. Konkin had gained the attention of Lugansk civilian authorities after he gave interviews on local television stations introducing himself as the commander for the 9th Territorial Battalion, part of the Lugansk Army. Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here. |
| Posted by:badanov |