SBU, border guards detain Kurgan Cossack chief
On July 2, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine together with border guards detained a Russian chief of the so-called Kurgan Cossacks, Valery Popov, at the Uspenka checkpoint, in Donetsk region, when he attempted to enter Ukraine to support the rebels.
The day before, Popov told Russian journalists that his Cossacks were going to Donetsk and Sloviansk to fight against the Ukrainian authorities and urged all those who specialized in armored vehicles to join them, the SBU press center reported on Thursday.
"We know that Cossack fighters controlled by the Russian secret services and his associate Nikolai Kozitsyn, who presented himself as a general of the Cossack troops, used a hostage from the OSCE mission as a human shield, mined roads and bridges, attacked Ukrainian border guards, established corridors for the delivery of Russian arms and mercenaries to Donbas, and committed crimes against the civilian population," the Security Service of Ukraine said.
The SBU said an inquiry into Popov's involvement in terrorist activities in Ukraine was underway.
