Anti-Ukraine instigator arrested
Led takeover of Donetsk city hall in secessionist move
DONETSK , UKRAINE • Ukrainian police Thursday arrested an advertising executive who spearheaded a secessionist campaign in the eastern economic capital of Donetsk after the city threatened to become a riot zone.
The detention of Pavel Gubarev, 30, came after days of tension between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian crowds.
The fearsome Ultras, supporters of Shakhtar Donetsk, the local soccer team, played a key role in containing the advance of Mr. Gubarev’s supporters.
After occupying city hall Sunday and planting the Russian flag on its roof, his supporters Thursday lost control of the building in a pre-dawn raid. Scores were arrested and detained, but their leader avoided the authorities.
Speaking at his home, just hours before a squad from the Kyiv-controlled SBU security service arrived to arrest him, Mr. Gubarev said if he was charged then so, too, should be revolutionary leaders, such as Vitali Klitschko, the former world boxing champion, who had seized control of Kyiv landmarks in the three-month rebellion that eventually toppled thenpresident Viktor Yanukovych last month.
Mr. Gubarev was charged with “infringing the territorial integrity and independence of the state.”
With a dirty bandage wrapped around the splint of broken fingers, he was showing the strains of his four-day rebellion that had seen him take over the centre of regional government for a period.
“I’ve had a black car outside my house, I have sent my family away,” he said. “I don’t care about my safety but I care about my supporters.”
Local officials under Sergei Tartura, the billionaire governor who was appointed by Kyiv, pursued a strategy of non-confrontation with the 2,000-strong band of demonstrators waving Russian flags led by Mr. Gubarev. But the occupation of city hall provoked counter-demonstra- tions from mostly young middle-class citizens who rallied under Ukrainian flags.
Diana Berg, a Donetsk-based designer, who had organized the proKyiv rallies, said the Ultras had volunteered to protect the 5,000 or so who attended Thursday’s rally.
“The Ultras were brilliant — they were like tanks in front of us,” she said.
“There were women, girls, children and old people terrified by our opponents’ assault. We didn’t know to where to run. It was terrifying.” She said the Ultras “don’t accept occupation of our region.”
Mr. Tartura was adamant Mr Gubarev was part of a Kremlin-orchestrated campaign to exploit local resentment of the pro-West revolution
The Ultras were brilliant — they were like tanks in front of us
in the Ukrainian capital.
“Groups of people participating in protests have been brought from Russia via the border,” he said.
“It is precisely them who are providing the support to these supposed leaders of extremist movements. What needs to happen is the closing of the border.”
Mr. Gubarev spent much of Thursday in consultation with officials in Crimea, where parliament passed a motion to merge with the Russian Federation. He produced a letter signed by other Kremlin-friendly groups in Kharkiv, Odessa and Luhansk calling for provincial votes on future status.
But he denied benefiting directly from Russian support.
“What I want is for the people of Donetsk to have the right to vote on their future. They should get choice to join Russia, to choose federalism or stay with Kyiv.”
His aides have vowed to continue with efforts to arrange a 100,000 strong rally in Donetsk Saturday. For her part Ms. Berg is calling for another turnout Sunday to mark the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko, the national poet.