LUGANSK, June 15, /ITAR-TASS/. All army units in Lugansk and east of the city have switched sides to join the newly proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, head of the republic Valery Bolotov said on Sunday.

“By now, all army units in Lugansk and east of the city have come over to the Lugansk People’s Republic, except those staying at the airport. We are in talks with them, trying to persuade them,” he told a news conference.

He refuted reports that the Dnepropetrovsk paratrooper brigade had left the Lugansk international airport. “No one left the territory of the airport,” he said.

Commenting on reports that the Dnepropetrovsk paratroopers had been barred from leaving the airport by a Lvov brigade, also defending the airport, Bolotov said, “If the Dnepropetrovsk servicemen ask us to help, we will help them.

Vladimir Gromov, the chief of the republic’s counter-intelligence service, told a news conference that anti-saboteur units will be formed.

“From tomorrow, we are forming a special unit that will work to prevent subversive activities,” he said.