'It's Time To Pay'

6/14/19
KYIV -- The chief organizer of a 2014 Donetsk separatist "independence" referendum in eastern Ukraine condemned by the international community has been detained by Ukrainian authorities, the Prosecutor-General has announced. "Citizen Lyagin is accused of treason." Lyagin is believed to be Roman Lyagin, a Donetsk separatist figure who declared himself the head of the separatists' makeshift election commission in the early days of the conflict that still grinds on between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Lyagin organized a slapdash "independence" vote on May 11, 2014, as the conflict was deepening. The poll was so rushed that many voting booths were still being erected the morning of the vote and some of the ballot boxes used were still adorned with Ukraine's coat of arms -- a blue and yellow trident -- instead of the black, blue, and red flag of the Donetsk "people's republic" movement. Later, Lyagin announced that some 90 percent of voters in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region had chosen self-rule. The poll was not monitored by any reputable international group and condemned by the international community, except for Russia. His role in the vote -- as well as his role in blocking the official Ukrainian presidential vote from taking place in Donetsk later that month -- earned Lyagin a spot on the U.S. sanctions list in 2015.

Rumors of Lyagin's detention first circulated in March, when a Ukrainian lawmaker claimed to have information that he had fled Donetsk and turned himself in to Ukrainian authorities. Lyagin is believed to have spent time in a Donetsk separatist detention facility after falling out with and criticizing its leadership. He reportedly fled to Russia before moving to annexed Crimea. In its own statement, the SBU said Lyagin had been detained as a result of a special operation that brought him to Ukraine. It did not provide more details. If tried and convicted, Lyagin could face 12 to 15 years in prison.

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