Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, primarily the People's Militias of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), were pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. They were under the overall control of the Russian Federation. They were also referred to as Russian proxy forces. They were active during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), the first stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War. They then supported the Russian Armed Forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the 2022 Russian invasion. In September 2022, Russia annexed the DPR and LPR, and began integrating the paramilitaries into its armed forces. They are designated as terrorist groups by the government of Ukraine.
Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin is a Russian politician who has served as the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) since 2018. He has held the position in an acting capacity ever since the Russian annexation of the DPR in 2022.
The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic is a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022. The entire territory of LPR is viewed as sovereign territory of Ukraine by nearly all UN member states.
Novorossiya or New Russia, also referred to as the Union of People's Republics, was a project for a confederation between the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in Eastern Ukraine, both of which were under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Valery Dmitrievitch Bolotov was a Ukrainian pro-Russia militant. In 2014, he became a prominent belligerent in the War in Donbas after being elected as the "People's Governor" of the internationally unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic, which was a Russia-aligned separatist quasi-country within Ukraine at the time. In 2017, he was found dead inside of his home in Moscow, Russia, under disputed circumstances; the exact cause of his death remains undetermined.
Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko was a Ukrainian separatist leader who was the head of state and Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed rebel group which declared independence from Ukraine on 11 May 2014. Zakharchenko was appointed prime minister in August 2014 after his predecessor Alexander Borodai resigned, and went on to win the early November 2014 election for the position.
The Minsk agreements were a series of international agreements which sought to end the Donbas war fought between armed Russian separatist groups and Armed Forces of Ukraine, with Russian regular forces playing a central part. After a defeat at Ilovaisk at the end of August 2014, Russia forced Ukraine to sign the first Minsk Protocol, or the Minsk I. It was drafted by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with mediation by the leaders of France and Germany in the so-called Normandy Format. After extensive talks in Minsk, Belarus, the agreement was signed on 5 September 2014 by representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group and, without recognition of their status, by the then-leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). This agreement followed multiple previous attempts to stop the fighting in the region and aimed to implement an immediate ceasefire.
Aleksey Borisovich Mozgovoy was a commander of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine. He was the leader of the pro-Russian Prizrak Brigade.
The 2014 Donbas general elections were held on 2 November 2014 by the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, which were at that time both members of the now defunct Novorossiya confederation.
The Republic of Stakhanov was a separatist quasi-state republic of Pavel Dryomov on the territory of the city of Kadiivka within the separatist Luhansk People's Republic.
Leonid Ivanovich Pasechnik 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.
Gennadiy Nikolayevich Tsypkalov was a political and military figure of the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). For a short time in May 2014, he served as acting People's Governor of the LPR, while Valeriy Bolotov was recovering from wounds.
Aleksandr Petrovich Kharitonov is a Ukrainian politician who appeared in media during the pro-Russian unrest in March 2014. He is the first leader of Russian separatists forces in Luhansk region. He is one of the pioneers and founders of the Russian Spring in the Eastern Ukraine.
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bednov was a former Soviet and Ukrainian militsiya officer and rebel commander of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine. He was the leader of the pro-Russian Batman Rapid Response Group. He was assassinated in Luhansk, with a debate among his supporters on who was responsible although on the day of his killing LPR "prosecutor's office" issued an official statement confirming "liquidation" of Bednov as "a head of a criminal organization".
General elections were held on 11 November 2018 by the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. As a result of a war that started in April 2014, these internationally unrecognised entities control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine, which are together called the Donbas region. They previously held elections in 2014. Voters were asked to elect the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic and Head of the Luhansk People's Republic as well as the deputies for two parliaments: the People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic with 100 seats, and the People's Council of the Luhansk People's Republic with 50 seats.
The Interbrigades is a volunteer movement organized by the unregistered Russian National Bolshevik political party "The Other Russia" to participate in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine on the side of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic.
Luhansk People's Republic–Russia relations were bilateral relations between Russia and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). The LPR is widely internationally unrecognized, with most of the international community regarding the LPR as a Russian military occupation of a portion of Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast. The LPR was annexed by Russia on 30 September 2022; the LPR authorities willingly acceded to Russia, and the annexation is widely internationally unrecognized. From April 2014 to September 2022, the LPR portrayed itself as an independent state, and it was widely regarded as a puppet state of Russia by the international community.
Volodymyr Oleksiyovych Struk was a Ukrainian politician. He was kidnapped and killed in March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when he was serving as mayor of the city of Kreminna, Luhansk region, at the time under control of the Ukrainian government. His killing has been reported as a response to his pro-Russia separatist activities and was denounced as an extrajudicial execution and a war crime by a representative of the internationally unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic.
A political crisis in the Russian-backed breakaway Luhansk People's Republic occurred in 2017 which was characterized by a confrontation between the Head of the Luhansk People's Republic, Igor Plotnitsky, and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Igor Kornet, which ended with the resignation of Plotnitsky.
Igor Aleksandrovich Kornet is a Ukrainian militiaman, public official and separatist, since 2014 Minister of Interior of the Luhansk People's Republic.
Soviet Union (Until 1991)
Ukraine (Until 2014)
Luhansk People's Republic (since 2014)
