Russia’s role in deadly Kiev clashes

My short interview for Metro, "Analysis: Russia’s role in deadly Kiev clashes":

With the violence escalating in Ukraine, international leaders are stepping up their pressure on President Viktor Yanukovich. But why, when the situation was getting calmer, did the government shoot dozens of protesters?

Metro spoke with Anton Shekhovtsov, a Ukrainian academic specializing in political extremism.

Who’s to blame for the violence and deaths in Kiev?

Two parties are responsible: Viktor Yanukovich and his government, and Russia. Yanukovich wouldn’t have been able to attack the protesters without Russian support. It’s because he wanted a $2 billion loan from Russia. He went to Sochi, where he met with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Now he’s back and he’s cracking down on the protesters.

But why would Russia want to support such an unpopular president?

Russia isn’t really interested in Yanukovich. It’s interested in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. Russia is establishing its Eurasian Union, and without at least parts of Ukraine, it wouldn’t work. That’s why Russia was so opposed to Ukraine signing the partnership agreement with the EU: It wanted Ukraine in the Eurasian Union.

Will protesters head home now that the situation has become so dangerous?

No, they’ll stand their ground. This is a fight for Ukrainian independence. We’ve had independence since 1991, but only formally. Now people want real independence. The protests aren’t just about Ukraine signing an EU agreement; it’s really about independence. And that’s why Putin is so afraid. He knows that if Ukrainians defeat their government, Russians could want to do the same thing.

The Ukrainian criminal terror regime in a war against the people

Viktor Yanukovych's criminal terror regime backed by the Russian imperialists has unleashed a full-fledged war against Ukrainians. Deadly clashes erupted this morning between riot police and anti-presidential protesters near the parliament building in central Kyiv.

At least seven protesters are reportedly dead, over 150 injured in the course of several hours. Police is presumably using live ammunition, shooting, as well as throwing Molotov cocktails, at protesters. Snipers are shooting at people from the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Armed thugs (titushki) paid by the government are acting alongside the riot police. Death toll is likely to grow rapidly.

If you read that "radicals", "extremists", "neo-Nazis" or whatever are leading the protests against the "legitimate government", DO NOT BELIEVE ONE WORD OF THESE LIES. The Ukrainian PEOPLE are fighting the terrorist regime.

And the revolution in Ukraine should end the same way it ended in Romania:

Чи очікують угорські та польскі праворадикали краху України?

3 лютого, дві праворадикальні організації, угорський "Йоббік" (Jobbik) та польский "Національний Рух" (Ruch Narodowy) випустили спільну заяву, в якій закликали уряди своїх країн «негайно об’єднати зусилля для застосування дипломатичних та національно-політичних засобів для захисту національних меншин, що проживають в Україні, з особливим відношенням до польських та угорських груп».

З усіх організацій та рухів в Україні, лише праворадикальний "Правий Сектор" вирішив відповісти на заяву "Йоббіка" та "Національного Руху". В своїй дуже довгій відповіді, вони зазначають:

Ми вже кілька разів заявляли, що Національна революція в Україні не несе небезпеки для місцевої національної меншини поляків. Так само немає підстав боятися представникам інших національних меншин. Навпаки, ми вважаємо, що держава має забезпечувати реалізацію культурних прав національних меншин за умов їхньої лояльності до титульної нації.

Отож, заява угорських і польських політиків є безпідставною. При цьому вона є не лише антиукраїнською, але й антиєвропейською. Зараз націоналістичні рухи Європи мають шукати максимальної єдності. Особливо це стосується націоналістів Центральної та Східної Європи. Зокрема, представники “Правого сектору” вважають, що повинна бути подоланою ворожнеча між українцями та поляками, українцями та угорцями, українцями та румунами, а також між румунами та угорцями.

Does the Hungarian and Polish far right anticipate Ukraine's downfall?

On the 3rd of February, two far right organisations, Hungarian Jobbik and Polish National Movement (Ruch Narodowy), issued a joint statement in which they called upon their respective governments "to immediately unite their efforts in applying their foreign and national political means to protect the rights of ethnic minorities living in Ukraine, with special regard for the Polish and Hungarian groups".

Of all the organisations and movements in Ukraine, the far right Right Sector decided to respond to Jobbik's and the National Movement's statement. In their lengthy reply, they, in particular, said:

We have already stated a few times that that the National revolution in Ukraine does not pose any threat to the local Polish minority in Ukraine. There is no need for any other ethnic minorities to worry, either. Quite the opposite, we feel the state must guarantee their rights to practice their own culture as long as they are loyal to Ukrainians.

Thus, this statement of certain Hungarian and Polish politicians is baseless. However, the statement itself is not only anti-Ukrainian, it is anti-European. Currently, nationalist movements throughout Europe must promote unity. This is especially true for nationalists in Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, the Right Sector feels that past animosity between Ukrainians and Poles, Ukrainians and Hungarians, Ukrainians and Romanians, as well as Hungarians and Romanians, must be put to rest.

Pro-Russian network behind the anti-Ukrainian defamation campaign

Read this article in German, French, Russian and Ukrainian.

There has been a huge tide of false, incorrect and bloated reports that exaggerate or over-emphasize the significance of the far right in the current Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. A Moscow-based journalist Alec Luhn writes in The Nation about "the Ukrainian nationalism at the heart of ‘Euromaidan’", a leftist Seumas Milne argues in The Guardian that "in Ukraine, fascists, oligarchs and western expansion are at the heart of the crisis", while a self-styled "independent geopolitical analyst" Eric Draitser, in his nauseatingly misleading piece for his own Stop Imperialism (later re-published by The Centre for Research on Globalization), even goes so far as to claim that "the violence on the streets of Ukraine [...] is the latest example of the rise of the most insidious form of fascism that Europe has seen since the fall of the Third Reich".

These and many other similar articles are all written according to the same pattern, and their aim is to discredit the Euromaidan protests as the manifestations of fascism, neo-Nazism or - at the very least - right-wing extremism.

Every single mass political mobilisation in Ukraine has been accompanied by the attempts to compromise the popular uprisings by associating them with the extreme right. And not only uprisings or protests, but big events too. For example, a few weeks before the start of the Euro-2012 football championship, British media hysterically accused Ukrainians of racism and xenophobia, and warned that any non-White person going to see football matches in Ukraine would definitely and immediately be killed. After the championship was over, no British media outlet apologised to the Ukrainian people when it turned out that not one racist incident involving Ukraine fans had been reported during the tournament.

The current campaign to defame the Euromaidan protests is so far the strongest attack on the Ukrainian civil society and democratic politics. Similar attacks took place in the past too, although their intensity never reached today's level. During the "Orange revolution", the Ukrainian semi-authoritarian regime under President Leonid Kuchma was also trying to defile democratic presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko by associating him with the extreme right. And here is a story that links the past and the present.

What the West should know about the Euromaidan's far right element - translations

My brief post "What the West should know about the Euromaidan's far right element" has been translated into German, Russian, Greek and Ukrainian:

Was der Westen über die extreme Rechte auf dem Euromaidan wissen sollte

Viele Menschen aus dem Westen stellen Fragen über die Rolle der ukrainischen Ultranationalisten bei den Euromaidan-Protesten in Kiew. Einige angeblich linke Websites wie die World Socialist Web Site veröffentlichen eklatante Lügen über die Euromaidan-Proteste und die Rolle der extremen Rechten. Diese Websites reden russischen Imperialisten das Wort, die alles tun, was sie können, um die Ukraine ihrer bereits geschwächten Unabhängigkeit zu berauben.

1. Wie ich bereits im Artikel „The Ukrainian revolution is european and national“ („Die ukrainische Revolution ist europäisch und national“) schrieb, ist der Euromaidan unter anderem eine nationale Revolution gegen den Imperialismus des Kremls und ein nationalistischer Aufstand gegen Russlands zerstörerischen Einfluss auf die Ukraine. Der Großteil an Unterstützung für die ukrainische extreme Rechte kommt von Bürgern, die kein rechtsextremes Gedankengut pflegen, die es aber nach einer wirklichen Unabhängigkeit der Ukraine verlangt. Das bedeutet, dass es erst möglich werden wird, die extreme Rechte zu neutralisieren, wenn die Ukraine völlige nationale Unabhängigkeit erlangt. Die ständige Bedrohung der ukrainischen Staatlichkeit ist es, die der extremen Rechten Zulauf verschafft, nicht etwa eine vermeintliche Zunahme von rechtsextremen Ansichten in der ukrainischen Gesellschaft. Wie Roger Griffin in Modernism and Fasicsm schrieb, kann es insbesondere aufgrund von „Besetzung, Kolonisierung oder Akten der Aggression, die [eine Gesellschaft] von anderen Gesellschaften erleidet“ zu einem Erstarken von Faschismus kommen (S. 104). Somit sollte ein Kampf gegen Faschismus in der Ukraine immer synonym sein mit dem Kampf gegen die Versuche, das Land zu kolonialisieren. Wer diese beiden Themen zu trennen versucht oder einseitig gegen die ukrainische extreme Rechte schlägt, ohne die dringliche Notwendigkeit einer nationalen Unabhängigkeit anzuerkennen, muss bei seinen Versuchen, die extreme Rechte zu neutralisieren, scheitern. Solche Versuche können die Situation sogar verschlimmern.

2. Zwar ist es richtig, dass die ukrainische extreme Rechte gegen das korrupte und autoritäre Regime von Viktor Janukowitsch und die brutale Polizei, die Demonstranten misshandelt und foltert, Gewalt befürwortet und auch angewendet hat, doch ist die extreme Rechte nicht die einzige gewalttätige Kraft auf dem Euromaidan. Ihr angeschlossen haben sich viele ukrainische Linke und Demokraten, die durch das Ausbleiben von Erfolgen bei dem anfangs gewaltlosen Widerstand gegen das Abrutschen des Landes in eine offene Diktatur radikalisiert wurden. Die Mehrheit der Protestierenden, sich auf Kiews eisig kalten Straßen zusammenfinden, sind Janukowitschs zynischer Ignoranz gegenüber ihren Forderungen überdrüssig und wütend über die Brutalität der Polizei. Ihre Radikalisierung ist eine traurige Reaktion auf die Politik und die Taten des Regimes, die den Anstoß zu einem Nichtangriffspakt zwischen der extremen Linken und der extremen Rechten in der Ukraine gegeben haben, welche sich nun auf derselben Seite der Barrikaden wiederfinden. Kommentatoren, die Gewalt auf dem Euromaidan ausschließlich mit der extremen Rechten in Verbindung bringen, spielen die Ursachen der Radikalisierung der Proteste auf dem Euromaidan herunter und entlasten – gewollt oder ungewollt – das autoritäre Regime von Janukowitsch.

Übersetzer: Tobias Ernst

UCL SSEES Special Research Seminar on Ukraine featuring Andrew Wilson and Anton Shekhovtsov

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies


SPECIAL RESEARCH SEMINAR ON UKRAINE

Wednesday 5 February 4.30-6pm
Location: Masaryk Senior Common Room
4th floor, UCL SSEES Building, 16 Taviton St London, WC1H 0BW London

Speakers:

Dr. Andrew Wilson
"Euromaidan and After: Where Does Ukraine go From Here?"

Anton Shekhovtsov

"The Ukrainian extreme right and the pro-EU protests"

All welcome including general public. No registration needed.

Italian fascist "socialists" call for the destruction of Ukraine

Former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus says that the European Union has betrayed Ukraine: "European Union lacks determination to support the pro-European protesters in Kiev and take retaliatory steps against Russia". Not only Ukrainians have been betrayed by the EU, of course. The same can be said about the people of Syria. Yet in both cases the Russian factor has played a crucial role.

I already wrote how the European extreme right supported the Russian imperialist agenda in relation to Ukraine. A few days ago, thanks to Giovanni Savino, an expert on Italian and historical Russian nationalisms, I have discovered yet another pro-Russian lobbying group in Italy, "Stato & Potenza", an allegedly socialist, but intrinsically fascist neo-Eurasianist sect.

What the West should know about the Euromaidan's far right element

Many in the West, are asking questions about the involvement of the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv. Some allegedly left-wing web-sites, such as the World Socialist Web Site, publish blatant lies about the Euromaidan protests and the role that the far right is playing in them. These web-sites are trying to appease Russian imperialists who are doing everything they can to deprive Ukraine of its already weakened independence.

At the moment, there are two things that the West should understand about the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the context of Euromaidan.

1. As I wrote before, in the article "The Ukrainian revolution is European and national", Euromaidan is, among other things, a national revolution against the Kremlin's imperialism and a nationalist uprising against Russia's destructive influence on Ukraine. The major share of support for the Ukrainian far right comes from those citizens who do not share far right views but urge for Ukraine's true independence. This means that it will only be possible to neutralise the far right after Ukraine gains national independence. The far right is being fuelled by the constant threat to the Ukrainian statehood rather than the alleged growth of extreme right views in the Ukrainian society. As Roger Griffin wrote in his Modernism and Fascism, the rise of fascism may occur, in particular, due to  "occupation, colonization, or acts of aggression inflicted on [a society] by other societies" (p. 104). Thus, a fight against fascism in Ukraine should always be synonymous with the fight against the attempts to colonise the country. Those who separate these two issues or crack down on the Ukrainian far right without recognising the urgent need for national independence will never be successful in their attempts to neutralise the far right. Moreover, they can make the situation worse.

Ultranationalist and anarchist symbols side by side on the battlefield

2. While the Ukrainian far right has indeed endorsed and used violence against Viktor Yanukovych's corrupt authoritarian regime and the brutal police who abuse and torture protesters, they are not the only violent force of Euromaidan. They are joined by many Ukrainian left-wingers and democrats who have become radicalised as a result of the lack of progress of non-violent resistance to the country's slipping into an outright dicatorship. The majority of the protesters who take to Kyiv's dead cold streets are tired of Yanukovych's cynical disregard of their demands and outraged about the police brutality. Their radicalisation is a sad response to the regime's policies and actions which gave an impetus to a non-aggression pact between the Ukrainian far left and far right who are now on the same side of the barricades. Those commentators who associate violence at Euromaidan exclusively with the far right are downplaying the causes of the radicalisation of the Euromaidan protests and - willingly or unwillingly - exonerating Yanukovych's authoritarian regime.

See translations of this short post into German, Russian and Greek here.

"Васильковские террористы", они же бандиты и неонацисты

Последним силовым противостоянием Евромайдана и "Беркута" стало побоище под Киево-Святошинским судом, где 10 января был вынесен приговор трем "васильсковским террористам": Игорю Мосейчуку, Сергею Бевзу и Владимиру Шпаре. Они были признаны виновными в намерении взорвать памятник Ленину в Борисполе в 2011 году, в подготовке теракта и незаконном обращении с оружием и взрывными веществами, а также призывах к свержению конституционного порядка.

К сожалению, большинство людей, которые пришли под здание суда в их поддержку, совершенно не знают кто такие "васильсковские террористы". На момент ареста в 2011 году все трое были членами неонацистской организации "Патриот Украины", а также созданной на его базе Социал-национальной ассамблеи (СНА). Товарищи "васильковских террористов" любят представлять их в качестве "жертв Системы" и "политзаключенных".

Героический образ этих "политзаключенных" рисует даже вроде бы про-демократический "Kyiv Post", который называет их "activists from the Patriot of Ukraine civic movement" и размещает на своем сайте схожее (но "менее нацистское") изображение "патриотов":

Я согласен с оценкой многих комментаторов о том, что "дело васильковских террористов" является сфальсифицированным, но согласен лишь частично. В конце концов, неонацисты из СНА уже уничтожали памятник Ленину в 2010 году в одном из поселков Васильковского района, да и в хранение огнестрельного оружия готов поверить.

Дело в том, что "васильковские террористы" - не только неонацисты, но и обыкновенные бандиты.

Call for Papers: Евромайдан/Euromaidan

“Форум новейшей восточноевропейской истории и культуры”

Call for Papers: Евромайдан

Научный журнал “Форум новейшей восточноевропейской истории и культуры” – русскоязычный журнал свободного доступа, издаваемый Институтом по изучению Центральной и Восточной Европы при Католическом Университете г. Айхштетт (Германия). Более подробную информацию о журнале и архив прошлых номеров можно найти на сайте журнала.

“Форум” планирует выпуск нескольких специальных секций о “Евромайдане” и приглашает авторов к подаче исследовательских статей на данную тему. Учитывая тот факт, что протесты, вызванные решением украинских властей отказаться от подписания Соглашения об ассоциации с Европейским Союзом, все еще продолжаются, первая специальная секция на данную тему будет посвящена причинам возникновения “Евромайдана” и первым этапам его развития (ноябрь 2013 – январь 2014 гг.).

Янукович по-прежнему хочет Тягнибока во втором туре?

Украинская ультра-националистка Ирина Фарион продолжает линию своей праворадикальной партии "Свобода", направленную на раскол на Евромайдана.

На Евромайдане "Свобода" занимается скорее не общим делом, направленным на реализацию революционных чаяний граждан, а раскольнической деятельностью, само-пиаром и рекрутированием новых членов.

Странные друзья Юрия Збитнева и Юрия Романенко

Среди друзей Юрия Збитнева и Юрия Романенко, которые, возможно, причастны к провокациям против Украинской революции, обнаруживаются очень странные личности.

Владимир Карасев

Проживает в Киеве. Президент благотворительного фонда «Российско-украинское сотрудничество». Поклонник Александра Дугина и сторонник Виктора Медведчука, которого Карасев "видит будущим лидером страны".

Владимир Карасев и Виктор Медведчук

"Re-organisation of the Ukrainian space", or Putin's agents in Ukraine

The disgraceful publication of "There is no Ukraine" (later renamed into "Is There One Ukraine?"), where a controversial British historian (and fraudster) Orlando Figes calls for the division of Ukraine, is only only one example of an increasing trend toward implanting an idea that the division of Ukraine may solve some political problems. Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions discussed this idea already in 2004, during the "Orange revolution", when they held the Severodonetsk convention - a major separatist move of Yanukovych’s supporters aimed at the creation of the Sout-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic. Present at that convention was then Moscow's Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov.

Why would Russian authorities be interested in the division of Ukraine if they want to incorporate it in its Eurasian Union? Russian fascist Aleksandr Dugin (whom I already mentioned earlier and will refer to again) believes that Ukraine is too diverse to be incorporated in its entirety in the Russian geopolitical project. In his Foundations of Geopolitics, where he describes the Russia-led Eurasian integration, Dugin writes:

The sovereignty of Ukraine represents such a negative phenomenon for Russian geopolitics that it can, in principle, easily provoke a military conflict. [...] Ukraine as an independent state with some territorial ambitions constitutes an enormous threat to the whole Eurasia, and without the solution of the Ukrainian problem, it is meaningless to talk about the contitental geopolitics. [...] Considering the fact that a simple intergration of Moscow with Kyiv is impossible and will not result in a stable geopolitical structure [...], Moscow should get actively involved in the re-organisation of the Ukrainian space in accordance to the only logical and natural geopolitical model.

European extreme right and Russian imperialism

European extreme right and Russian imperialism: Understanding the 50 shades of brown

French and Austrian radical right-wing leaders have recently declared that the EU should not interefere in Ukraine's national sovereignty. Some may consider these statements as a spit in the face of the Ukrainian radical right-wing Svoboda party, which today supports Ukraine's European integration, but in fact these statements reveal a bigger picture.

The dubious role of Bratstvo in the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine

Dmytro Korchyns'ky, the leader of the far right Bratstvo party, which was one of the organisations behind the attacks on the Presidential Administration, is said to be on the wanted list. Moreover, he is said to have fled to Russia.

The police refused to arrest him for several days, so if he is indeed now hiding in Russia, he had plenty of time to go to there without any fear of being arrested by the Ukrainian police on the border with Russia.

A comment on Timothy Snyder's "A Way Out for Ukraine?"

Timothy Snyder has written a good analysis of the current situation in Ukraine:

A Way Out for Ukraine?

My comment:

One more important aspect should be taken into account too: the Ukrainian civil society which started the protests and is currently growing in strength. Non-partisan protesters on streets are very sceptical about the opposition, and demand a complete overhaul of the political system. A deal that could possibly be struck between the political elites will surely be not enough for them. The opposition understands and is concerned about this because hundreds of thousands of non-partisan protesters are the opposition's only resource of power. If the civil society sees that the opposition is using them for bargaining, it will withdraw its support, and even if the political elites strike some deal, the protests will likely to continue.

Provoking the Euromaidan

Provoking the Euromaidan

ANTON SHEKHOVTSOV 3 December 2013

Were disturbances on the Maidan the work of provocateurs or Ukrainian ultra-nationalists?

Ukrainian extra-parliamentary extreme right behind the provocations at the President Administration

A few extra-parliamentary extreme right groups took part in the attack on the President Administration in Kyiv today. Currently, there is no one reason to believe that these groups were somehow associated with the parliamentary radical right-wing Svoboda party or even with its paramilitary neo-Nazi units like C14.

One of these groups is "Tryzub" (Trident), which was originally formed as a paramilitary unit of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists but then became an independent organisation.

The second group is the "Maidan Action 'Right-Wing Sector'" (Акція на Майдані "ПРАВИЙ СЕКТОР"), a movement formed on the social networking web-site VK.

Also seen by the President Administration is Dmytro Korchyn'sky, leader of the "Bratstvo" (Brotherhood) party. Korchyns'ky is widely considered an agent provocateur, and his "Bratstvo" already took part in several actions that were meant to provoke police suppression of peaceful protests. Moreover, it is said that Korchyns'ky taught a course at the explicitly pro-Putin "Seliger" summer camp in Russia.

Неонацистская угроза Евромайдану

Протесты в Украине, вызванные преступным отказом украинских властей от подписания Соглашения об Ассоциации с ЕС, могут столкнуться с проблемой легитимации. 23 ноября около 150 человек приняли участие неонацистском марше по улицам Львова.

Колона молодиків у білих масках пройшла з вулиці Коперника по проспекту Свободи, далі – вул. Галицька і до міської Ратуші, де розташована міськрада. При цьому радикально налаштовані мітингувальники вигукували нацистські та расистські гасла і закликали до революції: «Революція!», «Не вір, не бійся, не проси!», «Слава переможціям! Вождеві слава!», «Одна раса!», «Зіг Хайль!» та інші."