This just in from RFE/RL's news desk:
Russian state-run media behemoth Rossia Segodnya's interview with a former Ukrainian separatist leader was edited to remove references to his work in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and chaos among the rebels, his interviewer says.
Igor Girkin, known as "Strelkov," said in the interview that he is an "FSB lieutenant colonel" and that rebel commanders in eastern Ukraine "were fighting with one another," according to a transcript published by interviewer Aleksandr Chalenko.
The redacted version of the interview published yesterday (December 1) by Rossia Segodnya omits both comments.
Chalenko said in a Facebook post that the text was edited by Girkin's press secretary and trimmed by Rossia Segodnya editors in a standard journalistic process.
Strelkov, who held various posts in rebel regions of eastern Ukraine, had said previously that he served in the FSB until March 2013.
Russia denies that it supports separatists in eastern Ukraine.