Kyiv attributes Mozgovoy's murder to rivalry between militia groups

KYIV. May 25 (Interfax) - The murder of Alexei Mozgovoy, the commander of Prizrak (Ghost) brigade of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), is the result of struggle for influence between LPR militia leaders, spokesman of the Ukrainian presidential administration for the armed operation in Donbas Oleksandr Motuzyanik has said.

"An unidentified sabotage group ambushed Alexei Mozgovoy yesterday. Tentative reports say Mozgovoy died on the spot. At least two of his bodyguards and a woman acting as his press secretary were killed together with him," he said at a Sunday briefing in Kyiv.

The spokesman said Mozgovoy had been in conflict with the LPR leadership for a long time.

"This is not the first time when as a result of the redistribution of spheres of influence" militia leaders of the self-proclaimed republics are killed, he said.