As Ukrainian troops gained ground in eastern Ukraine in early July, separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, a Russian national, left for Moscow for political consultations.

After what he described as successful talks with unnamed people there, he returned to the rebel stronghold of Donetsk to introduce a new senior figure in his self-proclaimed republic, a compatriot seasoned in the pro-Russian separatist movement in Moldova and a war between Russia and Georgia.

Vladimir Antyufeyev was named ¡°deputy prime minister¡± by Borodai on July 10, one of several native Russians to have taken charge of the separatist rebellion in Ukraine¡¯s eastern regions.