A famous provocateur – a hero of many Photoshop contests – was noticed amongst the pro Russian rioters on the streets of Donetsk

During the bloody riots in Donetsk on the 13th March some Latvian Internet users noticed a man that strongly reminded them of a famous provocateur in their country named Alyosha. He got famous after a series of antigovernment riots in Riga on the 13th February 2009.

A comparative image of a very similar looking toothless guy appeared on the Internet

Here is a picture from Donetsk meeting:

More pictures from demonstration in Donetsk are here

A picture from Riga

This man became very famous in Latvia after the events in 2009. Very soon tons of Photoshop contests with Alyosha’s picture appeared. This can be compared to a very famous in our country “the best man from Fryazino”

You can see a selection of images on this topic here or simply googling «aļoša 13.janvāris»

During clashes in Donetsk two or three people died according to different sources. Others were injured.

Russian media claims that clashes started because of the “faschists” that came to the city and were trying to disrupt the peaceful pro Russian demonstration. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation on their official website stated Kiev’s not legitimate government is incapable of protecting people during peaceful demonstrations and that is why they have a full right to protect their compatriots in Ukraine. Many have assumed that this may become a reason for Kremlin to send troops to mainland Ukraine.

On the other hand, the opponents of this theory insist that pro Russian demonstrators started the clashes. They were very aggressive as well. One can make the same conclusion after watching a numerous amount of photos and videos related to this topic. Also the evidence of this can be that the man who died was a participant of the demonstration for united Ukraine.