LPR Envoy Downplays Ukrainian Far-Right Leader's New Role As Military Aide

Radical Ukrainian politician Dmytro Yarosh, the former leader of the Right Sector group (banned in Russia), who has recently been appointed advisor to the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will act only in information wars, the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in the contact group on the resolution of the conflict in Donbas, Rodion Miroshnik, told Sputnik on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2021) Radical Ukrainian politician Dmytro Yarosh, the former leader of the Right Sector group (banned in Russia), who has recently been appointed advisor to the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will act only in information wars, the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in the contact group on the resolution of the conflict in Donbas, Rodion Miroshnik, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Yarosh declared his appointment as an advisor to Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, on his Facebook page. Alexei Leonkov, a well-known Russian military expert, expressed an opinion that Yarosh will be engaged in the indoctrination of the Ukrainian army in his new post. The appointment marks Kiev's readiness to launch a large-scale offensive in the breakaway region of Donbas, the expert is convinced.

"I would not overestimate the influence of Yarosh, who took the post of the adviser to commander-in-chief Zaluzhny, on the strategy and tactics of military operations. He will perhaps participate only in information wars. Yarosh will voice those radical statements that the commander-in-chief himself cannot declare," Miroshnik said.

Yarosh's appointment is a step towards "radicalization and strengthening of militant neo-Nazi rhetoric" rather than resolution, he added.

Besides, such a move will boost the influence of the neo-Nazi structures in the armed forces of the country, Miroshnik believes.

"And, most likely, Yarosh will actively show support to the Minister for the Reintegration of Occupied Territories of Ukraine, (Oleksii) Reznikov, who is due to be appointed Defense Minister by the end of the week, where he will also work not as a strategist, but as a 'talking head' singing according to the notes of the NATO chiefs," the politician said.

Right Sector is a far-right Ukrainian nationalist movement uniting several radical organizations. In early 2014, members of the movement engaged in clashes with Ukrainian law enforcement officers and seizures of Ukrainian administrative buildings, while in April 2014, they started taking part in the suppression of protests in the crisis-torn eastern Ukrainian regions. In January 2015, Right Sector was included in the register of organizations banned in Russia.

The conflict in Donbas erupted the same year when the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk republics proclaimed their independence from Ukraine after what they regarded as a coup in Kiev. In response, the new Ukrainian leadership launched a military offensive against the region in a bid to return to the central power in Kiev.