Volodymyr Tymoshko arrived on July 16, 2014 in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. A little less than two weeks ago, Ukrainian troops had regained control of the two towns that became the epicenter of the start of the war in the east of the country.
The Police general was to lead the official investigation into what happened on those dates, when paramilitary groups occupied most of the Donbas region with the support of Moscow.
On April 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin had denied any involvement of his forces in the conflict. "There are no Russian units in eastern Ukraine. No special forces or instructors. They are all local citizens," he declared.
Tymoshko had already had to deal with separatist forces encouraged by Moscow in Kharkiv, the country's second metropolis, where he was stationed. There he participated alongside members of the National Guard in the eviction of several dozen activists who proclaimed the People's Republic of Kharkiv, on April 7, 2014, after occupying the regional government the day before. "It lasted less than a day," he recalls, sitting in the office he occupies in Chernihiv, where he now serves as the head of the security forces.
During the interrogations of the dozens of detainees who participated in that short-lived operation, Tymoshko discovered patterns of behavior that he later encountered again in Donbas. "Many were characters who had been in prison or had alcohol and drug problems. They were taken by a group of people who crossed the border from Russia in buses and who urged them to occupy the building. Once they were inside, they turned towards Russia," he explains.
"There was Motorola [Arsen Pavlov, a Russian paramilitary leader, who would later intervene in the war in Donbas]," he adds.
Motorola reappeared again in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, when these two towns were occupied on April 12.
"Our investigation led us to speak with detainees, analyze the documents they had left when they left and visit the places where they had stayed. The conclusion was incontestable and my thesis is that the preparation for the occupation of Donbas did not begin in 2014, after the Maidan revolt [the popular uprising that led pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to flee], but much earlier, perhaps after the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008," says the uniformed man.
The Donbas was, along with Crimea, the initial target of Putin's attack after losing his ally in power. Today, that region - almost 80% occupied by Russian troops - remains the main objective of its strategy in Ukraine.
In addition to examining buildings such as the municipality of Sloviansk or the police headquarters of that city - which were places used by the militiamen as bases -, the investigations of the police team under the orders of Tymoshko took them to a dependency of the Orthodox Church dependent on the Patriarchate of Moscow, a chalet called Villa María, which played a key role in the operation coordinated by Russia.
"About a hundred Russians crossed the border dressed as civilians, as if they were tourists. They did not have any weapons. They went directly to Villa María. That is where they had left the uniforms and weapons with which they appeared on the streets of Sloviansk," says the officer.
Villa María, he adds, had been rented in 2010. "Church employees were involved in the preparation, including a priest, who later was one of the leaders of the armed groups," he adds.
The main religious leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I, is a key ally of Putin and has on numerous occasions used his influence on a spiritual level to endorse the occupation of Ukraine.
The paramilitaries appeared equipped with machine guns and RPGs (anti-tank weapons), which they said they had obtained in Police armories. "But we don't have RPGs. We checked each of the weapons they left behind when they retreated and none of them were registered in Ukraine. They came from Russia," he says.
The Ukrainian agents in charge of the investigation also came across another detail, at first glance anecdotal, but which made them confirm their suspicions. "From the first or second day the armed groups had insignia of Novorossiya [the name that Moscow gives to several regions of Ukraine that it claims as its own] and separatist flags. We discovered that there was no factory in Sloviansk or Kramatorsk that could have prepared them. They brought all these emblems from Russia," proclaims Tymoshko.
During the investigation process, Ukrainian agents arrested almost 400 people involved in the revolt. "Most of them were exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners," Tymoshko said.
The general of the security forces drew a lesson that, he says, European nations should incorporate in this new era "where the law of the jungle rules." "Russia is an expert in hybrid warfare. How long until a group of people appear in a Baltic country or anywhere else waving a flag and say they want to be independent?" he asks.
