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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine's regional justice department official sides with Donetsk republic

A deputy head of Donetsk region justice department disagreed with Kiev’s military policy

© Mikhail Sokolov/TASS

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. First deputy head of the Ukrainian Department of Justice in the Donetsk region Sergey Kucheruk has announced his resignation due to disagreement with Kiev’s military policy and came down to the side of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). He made a statement to this effect on Monday at a news conference in the Donetsk news agency.

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"During my vacation, I decided to quit my job in the judicial bodies since I disagree with the government’s actions because of the constant whipping up of military hysteria," he said.

Kucheruk noted that he was holding the post of the first deputy head of the regional justice department based in Mariupol.

This is not the first time the Ukrainian officers are taking the side of the self-proclaimed republics because of their disagreement with Kiev’s actions. On June 22 it became known that former aide to the Ukrainian Defence Minister Major-General Alexander Kolomiets came down to the side of the DPR. Earlier, former head of the Luhansk Customs Service Oleg Chernousov and the Miroshnichenko brothers - Alexey and Yury - one of whom worked for Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service and the other for the Ukrainian Embassy in Paris, returned to Luhansk because of their disagreement with Kiev’s policies. In addition to that, on July 3 two senior officers of the Ukrainian State Automobile Inspectorate Vitaly Balbekov and Alexey Kobzar sided with the DPR.

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