REUTERS
Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov had been directly managing since 2013 the development and implementation of the criminal plan aimed at violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Chief military prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoliy Matios said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
"In July 2013, Gerasimov initiated the extension of powers of the General Staff for the coordination of all federal executive bodies," Matios said.
"From December 2013 to February 2014, using all kinds of media resources, the Russian Federation organized and launched information and propaganda subversion and a negative distortion of events during the Euromaidan," he said.
In addition, according to Matios, in March-April 2014, Russia organized training, financing, and also the supply of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to criminal groups who, under the direct supervision of reconnaissance and sabotage groups of the Main Intelligence Directorate, along with the units of the Russian Cossacks and the Russian Vostok volunteer battalion established the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republic terrorist organizations, having seized the administrative buildings and key facilities of military and civilian infrastructure.