Donetsk, Feb 10 – DAN. Somali unit commander Colonel Mikhail Tolstykh will be buried on Friday next to the grave of "Sparta" commander Arsen Pavlov (Motorola), DPR administration press service told Donetsk News Agency.
“Somali unit commander Mikhail Toltsykh (call sign Givi) will be buried next to Motorola in Donetskoye More cemetery in the city’s Leninskiy district,” the press service said, adding that the legendary commanders’ graves are close to each other, separated by fences.
Earlier on Friday, thousands of people came to pay last respects to DPR Hero Mikhail Tolstykh. The civil funeral began at Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre at 10:00 a.m. It was attended by DPR Head Alexander Zakharchenko, Defence Minister Vladimir Kononov, DPR Operations Command deputy commander Eduard Basurin, ministry and department officials, Givi’s comrades-in-arms and city residents.
Tolstykh was killed in an explosion of a round fired with an infantry flame-thrower Shmel on 8 February. DPR announced a three-day mourning for the hero. The republic’s intelligence said Ukrainian secret services were behind the assassination and that Zoryan Shkiryak, an advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, might be involved. DPR prosecutors initiated criminal proceedings over an act of terror.*jk