In Luhansk, the car of “deputy of the LPR” Oleg Popov was blown up

In Luhansk, on Wednesday, the car of Oleg Popov, a deputy of the “People’s Council of the Luhansk People’s Republic” controlled by the Russian authorities, was blown up. The representative of the so-called “new regions” in the Public Chamber of Russia Vladimir Rogov wrote in his Telegram channel that Popov was wounded. However, the emergency services of Luhansk later reported that he had died from the injuries received.

Attempts were made on Oleg Popov earlier. In September 2022, it was announced that Ego had died as a result of contract killing. But in February of this year, Popov resumed his duties. The mass media then called the reports of his death part of the “operational game” of the special services to reveal other possible assassins.

In the “People’s Council of the LPR”, Popov headed the committee on issues of state security and defense, work of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system, legality, protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms.

• Officials appointed by Russia regularly become targets of assassination attempts in the occupied regions of Ukraine. On November 8, an explosion killed a deputy of the Russian regional parliament in annexed Luhansk, the former head of the separatist armed forces, Mikhail Filiponenko. On the night of October 27, according to the FSB, Oleg Tsarev, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada and a supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, was wounded in an attempt in the annexed Crimea. In September, during an explosion in his own house in the Luhansk region, the head of the customs service of the “LPR” Yury Afanasievsky was seriously injured.
• Killing a non-combatant can be considered a war crime. The Russian authorities accuse the Ukrainian special services of the attempts. Most often, they do not take direct responsibility.