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High ranking officials from Russia to attend funeral of head of Donetsk People Republic

In particular head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksenov and Russian lawmaker and former Prosecutor of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya will attend the ceremony

DONETSK, September 1. /TASS/. Delegations from Russia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic will visit Donetsk on September 2 to take part in the farewell ceremony for the head of the proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, who died in an explosion on August 31. This is according to a statement of the republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In particular head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksenov and Russian lawmaker and former Prosecutor of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya will attend the ceremony.

"In particular, the visit of a delegation from the People's Republic of Lugansk headed by acting head of the republic Leonid Pasechnik is expected, a delegation from the Republic of South Ossetia led by President Anatoly Bibilov, a delegation of the Republic of Abkhazia headed by Deputy Prime Minister Astamur Ketsba, Olga Kovitidi, Sergei Mamedov, Sergei Tsekov, members of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) Kazbek Taisaev, Dmitry Sablin, Andrei Kozenko, Natalia Poklonskaya. It is planned that the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksenov will attend the farewell ceremony," the Donetsk news agency reported citing the ministry’s statement.

The farewell ceremony will be held on September 2 at the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.

Alexander Zakharchenko, who had been Prime Minister of the DPR since 2014, died in an explosion in downtown Donetsk on Friday. He was 42 years old. The blast left two people dead and nine injured, including DPR minister of taxes and duties, Alexander Timofeyev, and the head of a local youth organization, Natalya Volkova. DPR Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Trapeznikov, who was appointed acting head of the republic, said law enforcement agencies have already detained several suspects in the blast, who confirmed the Kiev government’s involvement. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) earlier denied any role in the blast.