Leonid Pasechnik
Леонид Пасечник
Pasechnik in 2023
Head of the Luhansk People's Republic[1]
Assumed office
25 November 2017[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
Prime MinisterSergey Kozlov
Preceded byIgor Plotnitsky
Minister of State Security of the Luhansk People’s Republic
In office
9 October 2014 – 21 November 2018
Acting from 25 November 2017
PresidentIgor Plotnisky
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
Born (1970-03-15) 15 March 1970
Voroshilovgrad, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyUnited Russia (2021–present)
Other political
affiliations		Peace to Luhanshchyna (2014–present)
Alma materDonetsk Military-Political College
AwardsMedal For Military Service to Ukraine
Military service
Allegiance Ukraine (1993–2014)
 Luhansk People's Republic (2014–2017)
Branch/service Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
Luhansk People's Republic Ministry of State Security of the Luhansk People's Republic
Years of service1993–2017
RankMajor General (MSS)

Leonid Ivanovich Pasechnik (Russian: Леони́д Ива́нович Па́сечник, Ukrainian: Леонід Іванович Пасічник, romanized: Leonid Ivanovych Pasichnyk; born 15 March 1970) is a Ukrainian-born politician who has served as Head of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) since 2017. He holds the position in acting capacity ever since the illegal and unrecognized Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in 2022. Pasechnik had previously held office as the LPR's Minister of State Security from 2014 to 2018.[2][3][4]

Prior to his political career, Pasechnik served in the Security Service of Ukraine until the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, which he supported.

Background and military career

Pasechnik's father worked in Soviet law enforcement, for the OBKhSS, for 26 years.[4] In 1975 the Pasechnik family moved to Magadan in the Russian Far East[5] where Pasechnik's father was associated with gold mine operations.[4]

Pasechnik graduated the Donetsk Military-Political College and worked for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Luhansk Oblast as a chief of a detachment combating contraband operations[6] and the chief of the Stakhanov district detachment.[4] On 15 August 2006 he became famous for intercepting large quantities of contraband at Izvaryne border checkpoint ($1.94 mln and 7.24 mln Russian rubles), at the same time reportedly refusing a bribe out of principle.[7][4] In March 2007 SBU Lieutenant Colonel Pasechnik received from the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko a medal For Military Service to Ukraine, "for showing integrity and professionalism in the line of duty" during the aforementioned operation.[4][7]

Career in the Luhansk People's Republic

Minister of State Security (2014–2017)

In 2014 he sided with pro-Russian militants, becoming on 9 October 2014 a minister of State Security for the self-proclaimed state Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).[4] As part of that role, he oversaw the "notorious" prisons and isolation cells in the LPR, in which, many media have reported, torture of people with anti-separatist views took place.[7]

Head of nominally independent Luhansk People's Republic (2017–2022)

On 21 November 2017, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the centre of Lugansk in what appeared to be a power struggle between the head of the republic Igor Plotnitsky and the supporters of LPR Interior Minister Igor Kornet, who was sacked the previous day.[8][9] Three days later, a government statement declared that Plotnitsky had resigned "for health reasons (due to) multiple war wounds (and) the effects of blast injuries, (which) took their toll."[10] It was also stated that Pasechnik had been named acting leader "until the next elections."[10] Russian media reported that Plotnitsky had fled the unrecognised republic on 23 November 2017 to Russia.[11] On 25 November the 38-member People's Council of the LPR unanimously approved the change in leadership.[12]

Pasechnik's position on the Minsk Agreements has been unclear. Upon taking office, he quickly declared his adherence to the Minsk Agreements, saying that "the republic will be consistently executing the obligations taken under these agreements."[13] On 30 March 2018 Pasechnik stated "Our (LPR) experience can help all regions of Ukraine eventually gain freedom and independence, and then we can together declare a new Ukraine in which representatives of different nationalities and cultures will freely live."[14] While meeting people living in territory controlled by LPR in the summer of 2019, Pasechnik stated: "It does not mean, that we will return back into Ukraine. This is the only way to stop this madness, this war. You should understand that we, as a sovereign state will be a state within the state – that will be our special status".[15]

He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2018 in relation to the Russo-Ukrainian War.[16]

On 6 December 2021, Pasechnik became a member of the Russian ruling party United Russia.[17] United Russia chairman Dmitry Medvedev personally handed him his party ticket during the party's annual congress in Moscow.[17]

Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of the LPR (2022–present)

Pasechnik (right) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in April 2023

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, citing Ukraine's failure to implement the Minsk Agreements by not granting regions of the Donbas the required special status. On 27 March 2022, Pasechnik said that the LPR may hold a referendum to join Russia in the near future.[18][19] The authorities of the Luhansk People's Republic eventually scheduled a "referendum" on the republic's entry into Russia as a federal subject for 23–27 September.[20]

On 30 September 2022, together with Donetsk People's Republic Head Denis Pushilin and pro-Russian occupation administration Heads Vladimir Saldo of the Kherson region and Yevgeny Balitsky of the Zaporizhzhia region, attended in Moscow the ceremony in which President of Russia Vladimir Putin formally announced the annexation and incorporation of those regions into Russia.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ As a self-declared independent state: 25 November 2017 – 4 October 2022
  2. ↑ As a Russian subject: 4 October 2022 – present

References

  1. ↑ "Executive Order on Acting Head of Lugansk People's Republic". 5 October 2022.
  2. ↑ Леонид Пасечник стал и.о. главы ЛНР
  3. ↑ Анатолий Антонов возглавил Министерство госбезопасности ЛНР
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Former SBU agent, whom Yushchenko gave a medal. Who is the new leader of "LPR" (Бывший СБУшник, которому дал медаль Ющенко. Кто такой новый главарь "ЛНР"). Espreso.tv. 24 November 2017
  5. ↑ Grytsenko, Oksana (25 November 2017). "Kremlin places new head in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  6. ↑ Romanenko, Maria; Kupfer, Matthew (27 November 2017). "The Coup In Luhansk, Explained". Hromadske. Retrieved 8 July 2023. He is a former officer of Ukraine's security services. He used to head the K department, which fought smuggling in Luhansk region and he was quite successful in that role
  7. 1 2 3 Sauer, Pjotr (24 February 2022). "'Their golden hour': Donetsk and Luhansk leaders revel in rising profile". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Kremlin 'Following' Situation in Ukraine's Russia-Backed Separatist-Controlled Luhansk". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 22 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Luhansk coup attempt continues as rival militia occupies separatist region". The Independent. 22 November 2017.
  10. 1 2 Ukraine rebel region's security minister says he is new leader , Reuters (24 November 2017)
    Separatist Leader In Ukraine's Luhansk Resigns Amid Power Struggle, Radio Free Europe (24 November 2017)
  11. ↑ "Захар Прилепин встретил главу ЛНР в самолете в Москву". meduza.io.
  12. ↑ "Народный совет ЛНР единогласно проголосовал за отставку Плотницкого" (in Russian). Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  13. ↑ Lugansk People’s Republic head resigns, TASS news agency (24 November 2017)
  14. ↑ "ЛНР have declared readiness to share experience with other areas of Ukraine" (in Russian). Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Donbas: The new repertoire, The Ukrainian Week (28 September 2019)
  16. ↑ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. 1 2 Ukraine conflict: Putin invites separatist leaders into his party. The Times (6 December 2021)
  18. ↑ "Leader of Kremlin-Backed Separatists in Ukraine Planning 'Referendum' to Join Russia". Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty.
  19. ↑ "Leader of east Ukraine separatist region says it may hold vote on joining Russia". The Times of Israel.
  20. ↑ Новости, Р. И. А. (20 September 2022). "Референдум о вхождении ЛНР в состав России пройдет с 23 по 27 сентября". РИА Новости (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  21. ↑ Landay, Jonathan (30 September 2022). "Defiant Putin proclaims Ukrainian annexation as military setback looms". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
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