Ihor Plakhuta, whom President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed the commander of the Territorial Defence Forces today, worked at the Interior Ministry during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014 and headed the Internal Troops during the dispersal of the Maidan protests, Ukrayinska Pravda has reported.
According to it, on the night of 10 December 2013, law enforcement officers cleared the government quarter of the Euromaidan barricades. Later, Plakhuta, who at the time was the head of the department of the Southern Territorial Command of the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry, said that about 400 soldiers of the Internal Troops and the Berkut special forces were involved in clearing the streets.
He later said that "the men in black who were dismantling the barricades were utility workers".
Plakhuta also spoke about the injured Berkut officers.
"As a result of the clearing of the corner of Bankova and Lyuteranska streets from the protesters' barricades, two law enforcement officers - members of the Internal Troops and Berkut - were injured. This was reported by Maj-Gen Ihor Plakhuta, the head of the Southern Territorial Command of the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry, who was present at the scene," Ukrayinska Pravda reported in an article in 2013.
At the same time, according to the website, Plakhuta stated that a Berkut officer was poisoned by gas used against him by protesters, and one soldier was injured in the clampdown.
On 21 January 2014, an official of the Interior Ministry came out to the protesters for negotiations, and, according to the article, it was the current commander of the Territorial Defence troops.
In 2005-2008, Plakhuta served as the commander of the Separate Presidential Brigade.
As of 2009, he was the commander of the 169th Training Centre. Subsequently, he was the head of the Southern Territorial Command of the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry.