Former Riga OMON operative appointed deputy mayor of separatists-controlled Donetsk

According to REGNUM, Antyufeev will be in charge of security, court system and interior affairs in Donetsk.

According to what Antyufeev has said, he has been ‘fighting against fascism his whole life’.

In relation to his participation in Latvia’s attempts to regain independence, Antyufeev describes it has ‘active combating of resurrection of national fascism in Latvia’.

In his interview to Latvian daily Diena in 2000, Antyufeev said he was following orders of the USSR government and was acting in accordance with the country’s constitution in August 1991.

The Latvian Prosecutor General’s office considers the crimes Antyufeev committed in August 1991 as very grave. According to information of the Prosecutor General’s office, on August 18th, 1991, Riga OMON operatives under Antyufeev’s command opened fire on a shuttle bus, killing the driver.

After the August events, Antyufeev fled to Russia. At the end of 1991, he reappeared in Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, where he played a major role in the creation of security and interior affairs structures. Up until 2012 he was Transnistria’s Defence Minister.

After the change of power in Transnistria in 2012, Antyufeev was dismissed from his post. The official reason for this was his age. He then moved to Moscow in February. In June of the same year, he was charged with alleged abuse of power in Transnistria. In 2013, authorities of Transnistria launched an international manhunt for him.