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Woman who killed Lugansk ex-mayor led troubled life

According to her acquaintance Sergey, she had been a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses until 2014 and may have been recruited by the Ukrainian Security Service

LUGANSK, July 4 /TASS/. The 36-year-old resident of Bryanka who carried out the July 3 assassination of the former mayor of Lugansk had been living on government allowances and was previously a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, an organization banned in Russia, her acquaintance Sergey told TASS.

According to him, one of her children was also known to social services.

"Alyona came from a family that wasn’t very well off. Although she wasn’t an alcoholic, she was always driven by greed and a desire for easy money. She hadn’t worked for a long time and lived on child allowances," he said.

According to Sergey, she had been a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses until 2014 and may have been recruited by the Ukrainian Security Service.

The explosion occurred on Taras Shevchenko Street in Lugansk on July 3 at 8:52 a.m. GMT. The blast killed former city head Manolis Pilavov, the republic’s police reported.

A criminal case has been opened. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, noted that Pilavov had led the city administration for nine years and, since 2014, had played a key role in rebuilding the city’s infrastructure.

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