Moscow: Russian president Vladimir Putin called the killing of east Ukraine separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko on Friday a 'dastardly' act that aimed to destabilise the fragile peace in the region.
However, Putin, in a statement issued by the Kremlin, did not accuse Ukraine of being behind the killing. Putin expressed his condolences to Zakharchenko's family.
International terrorism
Russia's state investigative committee said it was treating the killing of Zakharchenko as an act of international terrorism.
A criminal investigation into the killing has been opened, the committee said in its statement.
The cafe blast
The leader of Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk region was killed on Friday in a blast at a cafe in Donetsk. Kiev denied any involvement in the blast and blamed separatist infighting.
Zakharchenko, who led the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic since 2014, "received injuries incompatible with life as a result of an explosion in the centre of Donetsk," the separatist administration said in a statement.
Russian-backed rebels threw off Ukrainian central rule in an armed uprising after pro-Western leaders opposed by Moscow came to power in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in 2014.
A shaky internationally-brokered ceasefire has been in force since 2015, halting large-scale fighting, though there are still frequent outbreaks of shooting on the front line between the separatist and Ukrainian forces.
Blame game
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had every reason to believe Kiev was responsible for Zakharchenko's death, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Rossiya-24 state television station.
Zakharchenko's death shows that Kiev has decided to engage in a "bloody fight" and has passed up on its promises of seeking peace, she said.
In Kiev, a spokeswoman for the state Security Service, Yelena Gitlyanskaya, dismissed Moscow's accusations.
"According to our information, this was the result of internal fighting which has already been continuing for years between the terrorists and their Russian sponsors," she said.
From coalmine to separatist leadership
Zakharchenko, a 42-year-old former coalmine electrician, became leader of the Donetsk Republic in November 2014. Other rebel leaders say he was handpicked for the role by Moscow. A vote held by separatists confirmed him in office.
The separatists have been dogged by infighting that has, on occasion, turned violent. Several past leaders of the separatists have fled the region, saying they feared for their lives after their comrades turned on them.
Earlier this year, three sources who led the original uprising in 2014 told Reuters they expected Zakharchenko to be pushed aside, with Moscow's assistance, and that a new rebel leadership would take over.
In the past, at least five other leading separatist commanders have been killed in unexplained circumstances not connected to front-line combat.
