Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the murder of Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as an attempt at destabilizing the region.

"I would leave that without comment. I will just say that it was a terrorist attack and an attempt at destabilizing the situation," Peskov told the media, when asked what was the legal basis Russian federal security service FSB specialists relied on in investigating Zakharchenko’s murder in the Donetsk Republic.

According to earlier reports FSB specialists were helping the Donetsk Republic to investigate Zakharchenko’s murder. The chief of the FSB’s information and international relations department, Sergei Beseda, told the media that Ukrainian secret services were most probably to blame for Zakharchenko’s assassination.

Alexander Zakharchenko and his bodyguard were killed by an explosion in a cafe in the center of Donetsk on August 31.

Twelve others, including the Donetsk Republic’s Tax Minister Alexander Timofeyev, were injured.