Ukraine’s Far-Right Menace

[Purveyor]

A bloody divorce between the Ukrainian government and the country’s ultranationalist groups could be in the offing.


By Lev Golinkin

9/1/15, 4:30 PM CET

On Monday, an eerily familiar scene in the streets of Kiev heralded a dangerous new phase in the Ukraine crisis. Once again, riot police faced angry demonstrators who claimed that the government was betraying their country; once again, blood spilled on the pavement, resulting in at least one death and over 100 injuries.

This time, however, the players’ roles had shifted. The ones fighting the government were grenade-wielding members of Svoboda and Right Sector, radical militants who had, until that point, been allied with Kiev. Their target was the democratically elected, Western-leaning government of Petro Poroshenko which is working on decentralization legislation mandated by the Minsk II agreement.

Monday’s bloody standoff over decentralization laws is symptomatic of a much wider problem. It is a prelude to what could soon turn into a bloody divorce between the Ukrainian government and the country’s far right groups.

The uneasy alliance between Kiev and Ukraine’s ultranationalists stretches back to the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. Neo-Nazi organizations such as Svoboda, Patriot of Ukraine and the Social-Nationalist Assembly (SNA) did not form the heart of the Maidan uprising, as Moscow propaganda has claimed.

They were there, but on the outskirts, ghosting alongside peaceful Ukrainians who came out to support Westernization and rally against corruption. When the protests turned violent, however, far-right groups stepped in to provide security to the demonstrators; when rebellion broke out in the east, the ultranationalists led the fight against the separatists.

more...

http://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-far-right-menace-radical-militants-ultranationalists/