More on academic fraudster Taras Kuzio

In the same article in The Ukrainian Weekly, Kuzio writes:

More bizarre was Shekhovtsov’s attempt to downplay the murder of two Ukrainian nationalists in Ukraine when I discussed the absence of any murders of Russian nationalist counterparts in Ukraine.  Shekhovtsov came as close as I have ever heard anyone say that the murder in Odessa was undertaken by an "anti-fascist" defending himself against a "fascist" Maksym Chayka (in other words, that it was justified).  Shekhovtsov ignored the fact that the murderer was a member of the national Bolshevik Rodina Party which has ties to local organized crime and was funded by Russian intelligence services (two Russian diplomats were expelled from Ukraine in summer 2009 for providing covert support to extremist and separatist groups in Odessa and Crimea).

I never justified the murder of Maksym Chayka, so Kuzio is lying again. For some reason, Chayka provides some kind of fascination to Kuzio. He refers to him as "member of the patriotic youth movement Sich Maksym Chaika". See here and here. Posted below are three pictures of the "patriot" Maksym Chayka (on the left in all pictures):

Why would Kuzio call Chayka "a patriot"? He was clearly a clearly self-confessed neo-Nazi, member of the extreme right Sich ("Слава і честь", Glory and Honour) group. (See also this interersting post.)

Chayka was killed on 17 April 2009, when he and his 14 neo-Nazi friends attacked a group of 5 anti-fascists in Odessa. The anti-fascists had to defend themselves and one of them stabbed Chayka. This information is confirmed by Vyacheslav Likhachev, one of the best specialists on the Ukrainian extreme right and a leading expert at the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. In particular, Likhachev writes (scroll down for the translation in English):

Погибший, Максим Чайка, быстро стал героически-жертвенным символом не только для неонацистской среды, но и в довольно широких национал-демократических кругах – благодаря не соответствующему действительности, но обнародованному довольно оперативно одесской «Просвитой» (руководитель которой, Александр Иванченко [на самом деле Степанченко], является также председателем одесской городской организации Всеукраинского объединения «Свобода») информационному сообщению, что молодой активист украинской патриотической организации был убит в результате нападения вооруженных боевиков одной из пророссийских организаций.

Deceased Maksym Chayka swiftly became a heroic sacrificial symbol not only for the whole neo-Nazi scene, but also for the wide national-democratic circles, thanks to the incorrect, but promptly disseminated notice that the young activist of the Ukrainian patriotic organisation had been killed in the attack of armed fighters from one of the pro-Russian organisations. The notice was disseminated by the Odessa "Prosvita" organisation, whose head, Aleksandr Ivachenko [in fact, Stepanchenko], is also a head of the Odessa city organisation of the All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (Svoboda).

So Kuzio is echoing the far right propaganda of the Svoboda party. The anti-fascist (without the quotation marks!), who had killed Chayka, was neither a Russian nationalist nor member of the Rodina (Motherland) party. This is far right propaganda, which Kuzio decided - for some particular reason - to circulate.

The extreme right groups still stage marches to commemorate Chayka, under the flags of the Svoboda party:

Is Kuzio aligned with the Ukrainian extreme right?