Rebels and oligarchs: 7 key players in eastern Ukraine

A look at the Russian-born rebels and the wealthy Ukrainian oligarchs who are key players in Ukraine's restless east.

3. Vladimir Antyufeyev

Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Vladimir Antyufeyev, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, listens during an interview with a Reuters journalist in Donetsk July 25, 2014.

Rebel leader Alexander Borodai named Vladimir Antyufeyev deputy minister of the Dontesk People’s Republic on July 9, making him one of the newest faces in the conflict. Mr. Antyufeyev, a native of Russia, is also known as Vadim Shevtsov. He has a history of showing up in places where there are pro-Russia separatist movements, including Transnistria, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia. The European Union, which added him to its blacklist on July 25, says he was previously a security minister in Transnistria. 

Antyufeyev replaced a Donetsk native, Alexander Khodakovsky as deputy minister, one of several such reshuffles that sidelined locals. When Reuters asked Antyufeyev about divisions between rebels, he responded, “I am the authority. I have no problems... If they do not understand that, that’s their problem. I am a professional in making (people) understand.”  

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