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Introduction: Continuing analysis of the recent Ukrainian elections, this broadcast further develops the so-called “moderate” forces’ incorporation of explicit Nazi and fascist elements, as well as their adoption of policy advocated by the extremists.
Exemplary of this dynamic is the issue of “lustration laws.” Ostensibly designed to fight the endemic corruption that has plagued Ukraine since it gained independence, the laws actually appear to be part of the ongoing purge of politicians sympathetic to Russia and are in violation of principles of law.
To generate momentum for the lustration laws, president Poroshenko selected a recipient of funding from Pierre Omidyar. Svitlana Zalishchuk is now a member of parliament, having forged political dialogue between the “moderate” parties and the fascist parties such as Svoboda and the Radical Party.
At least two members of the Nazi Azov Battalion have been elected to parliament, including its founder Andriy Biletsky.
The deputy commander of the Azov Battalion has been appointed chief of police of Kiev. With a veteran of a Nazi combat unit supervising the constabulary of that nation’s capital, democratic process may very well be further imperiled.
(We have covered the ascension of the OUN/B heirs in the Ukraine in a number of programs: FTR #‘s 777, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782, 783, 784, 794, 800, 803, 804, 808, 811, 817.)
Program Highlights Include: The role of Svoboda member and former defense minister Andriy Parubiy as an adviser to Poroshenko; Poroshenko’s comemoration of October 14 (anniversary of the founding of the OUN-UPA) as a Ukrainian holiday; an overview of the political evolution of the OUN/B heirs that have come to power in Ukraine; review of other Nazi and fascist elements that serve in an advisory role in the ranks of the “moderate” forces in Ukraine; discussion of the spin placed by Western media on the Nazi and fascist presence within the Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk blocs; the Azov Battalion membership of a key Vitali Klitschko ally (Klitshko is an important member of Poroshenko’s Bloc); Azov associate and Yatsenyuk functionary Tetyana Chornovol’s head of Poroshenko’s “anti-corruption” task force–a position that places her in the forefront of the “lustration law” milieu.
1. It turns out one of the key figures in the Poroshenko administration, who was also heavily backed by Pierre Omidyar’s pro-Maidan outfits, was the person in charge of pushing the lustration laws. Of particular significance is the fact that Svitlana Zalischuk, the recipient of Omidyar’s funding, was a key player in coordinating the activities of the so-called “respectable,” “moderate” pro-EU political cadre with the overtly fascist parties such as Svoboda and the Radical Party.
Ukraine just held its first post-revolution parliamentary elections, and amid all of the oligarchs, EU enthusiasts, neo-Nazis, nepotism babies, and death squad commanders, there is one newly-elected parliamentarian’s name that stands out for her connection to Silicon Valley: Svitlana Zalishchuk, from the billionaire president’s Poroshenko Bloc party.
Zalishchuk was given a choice spot on the president’s party list, at number 18, ensuring her a seat in the new Rada. And she owes her rise to power to another oligarch besides Ukraine’s president — Pierre Omidyar, whose funding with USAID helped topple the previous government. Zalishchuk’s pro-Maidan revolution outfits were directly funded by Omidyar.
Earlier this year, Pando exposed how eBay billionaire and Intercept publisher Pierre Omidyar co-funded with USAID Zalishchuk’s web of nongovernmental organizations — New Citizen, Chesno, Center UA. According to the Financial Times, New Citizen, which received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Omidyar, “played a big role in getting the [Maidan] protest up and running” in November 2013. Omidyar Network’s website features Zalishchuk’s photograph on its page describing its investment in New Citizen. Zalishchuk was brought into the NGOs by her longtime mentor, Oleh Rybachuk, a former deputy prime minster who led the last failed effort to integrate Ukraine into the EU and NATO.
Zalishchuk’s photos also grace the Poroshenko Bloc’s website and twitter feed, as she emerged as one of the presidential party’s leading spokespersons. The Poroshenko Bloc is named after Ukraine’s pro-Western president, Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire with a lock on Ukraine’s confectionary industry, as well as owning a national TV station and other prized assets. He came to power this year thanks to the revolution originally organized by Zalishchuk’s Omidyar-funded NGOs, and has rewarded her with a seat in the Rada.
The president’s party tasked Zalushchik with publicly selling the highly controversial new “lustration law” — essentially a legalized witch-hunt law first proposed by the neo-fascist Svoboda Party earlier this year, and subsequently denounced by Ukraine’s prosecutor general and by Human Rights Watch, which described a draft of the law as “arbitrary and overly broad and fail(s) to respect human rights principles,” warning it “may set the stage for unlawful mass arbitrary political exclusion.”
The lustration law was passed under a wave of neo-Nazi violence, in which members of parliament and others set to be targeted for purges were forcibly thrown into trash dumps.
Zalishchuk, however, praised the lustration law, claiming that the legalized purges would “give Ukraine a chance at a new life.”
Shortly before the elections, on October 17, Zalishchuk used her Omidyar-funded outfit, “Chesno,”to organize a roundtable with leaders of pro-EU and neo-fascist parties. It was called “Parliament for Reform”and it brought together leaders from eight parties,including Zalishchuk’s “Poroshenko Bloc” (she served as both NGO organizer and as pro-Poroshenko party candidate), the prime minister’s “People’s Party” and leaders from two unabashedly neo-Nazi parties: Svoboda, and the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko, who was denounced by Amnesty International for posting YouTube videos of himself interrogating naked and hooded pro-Russian separatist prisoners. Lyashko’s campaign posters featured him impaling a caricatured Jewish oligarch on a Ukrainian trident.
Meanwhile, Zalishchuk’s boss, President Petro Poroshenko, has led a bloody war against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country that left at least 3700 dead in a half year of fighting. Human Rights Watch recently accused Poroshenko’s forces of “indiscriminate” use of cluster bombs in heavily populated areas, that “may amount to war crimes.” Poroshenko’s forces include neo-Nazi death squads like the notorious Azov battalion.
Last month, Poroshenko further cemented his ties to the extreme right by hailing Ukraine’s wartime Nazi collaborators, the violently anti-Semitic UPA, as “heroes.” The fascist UPA participated in the Holocaust, and were responsible for killing tens of thousands of Jews and ethnic Poles in their bid to create an ethnically pure Ukraine. Many UPA members filled the ranks of the Nazi SS “Galicia” Division. The neo-Nazi Right Sektor, which spearheaded the violent later stages of the Maidan revolution, sees itself as the UPA’s contemporary successors; Right Sektor’s leader, Dmitry Yarosh, believes that any “ethnic minority that prevents us from being masters in our own land” is an “enemy.” Yarosh was just elected to the new parliament.
This week, Omidyar Network’s “investment lead” for Ukraine, Stephen King, accepted an award for Omidyar Network’s role in a major new USAID-backed project, Global Impact Investing Network. . . .
2. The Kiev government just passed a law ostensibly intended to purge the government of its past corrupting influences. The so-called “lustration laws” actually appear to be a thin legal veneer for a wholesale purge of any Ukrainian civil servants in any way linked to Russia. The lustration laws are the statutes that Omidyar’s proptege Zalischuk has been empowered to garnish with a veneer of respectability and legality.
“Ukraine Could Sack up to Million Officials with Ties to Russian Past” by Dmitry Zaks [AFP]; Yahoo News; 10/09/2014.
Ukraine’s president approved a disputed anti-graft measure on Thursday that could see up to a million civil servants with alleged links to past Soviet or pro-Russian governments immediately sacked.
The so-called “lustration law” follows the example of other eastern European nations that broke free of decades of Moscow’s domination at the end of the Cold War.
It was also a rallying cry of the protests that convulsed Kiev last winter and led to the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych and a secretive band of Ukrainian tycoons.
The law removes anyone who held a federal or regional government position for more than a year under Yanukovych, who is now in self-imposed exile in Russia.
It also sets up a special commission to investigate judges and law enforcement agents suspected of living lavish lifestyles on humble government wages.
Another provision prevents anyone unable to explain their sources of income or assets from holding office for five to 10 years.
Lawmakers’ initial failure to adopt the legislation last month sparked violent protests outside parliament that engulfed the building in the black smoke of burning tyres and brought riot police out on the streets.
The bill itself says it was drafted to help “restore trust in the authorities and create a new system of government that corresponds to European standards”.
“This is a historic day for Ukraine,” President Petro Poroshenko posted on his Facebook account.
“The state machine will be cleansed. Glory to Ukraine!”
- Way to settle scores? -
But the legislation has been bitterly fought by lawmakers representing Russian-speaking eastern regions — the powerbase of the former regime and now partially controlled by separatist rebels.
Its legality has also been questioned by the Council of Europe and business leaders who fear it will lead to a damaging exodus of competent bureaucrats.
Even the president’s own special representative on children’s issues complained that it “violates basic rights and freedoms of citizens, is anti-constitutional and does not correspond to European judicial procedures or standards.”
“It provides a way to settle scores with your (political) opponents,” children’s ombudsman Yuriy Pavlenko wrote on his Facebook account.
Other clauses in the law bar anyone found guilty of backing separatist causes and anyone who worked as a prosecutor or held a top office when state agents shot dead nearly 100 protesters during the Kiev unrest.
The commission can additionally probe civil servants’ links to the Soviet-era secret service and Communist Party.
The measures have already prompted the resignation of two top finance and economy ministry officials who are respected by the business community but were hired during Yanukovych’s 2010–2014 presidency.
A succession of recent governments have been riven by squabbles and business clan rivalries that stalled the adoption of crucial economic restructuring measures and left the country nearly bankrupt and dependent on foreign help.
Yanukovych and his allies were accused of persecuting their predecessors and jailing former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko for political reasons.
...
3. Parliament’s failure to enact the lustration laws sparked violent protests outside parliament that “engulfed the building in the black smoke of burning tyres and brought riot police out on the streets”. These protests were staged by “usual suspects”–Pravy Sektor, Svoboda et al. Again, Zalishchuck is basically Poroshenko’s legal and parliamentary running dog for the legislation favored by the OUN/B heirs. Here’s a bit more on those protests:
It’s been a hell of a year for Ukraine. Months of fiery protest, the overthrow of a president, a Russian invasion and even a war.
But despite a cease-fire that’s in effect, there’s no sign that things are settling down. On Tuesday, some activists of the extremist pro-Ukrainian party Avtomaidan threw a Ukrainian parliament member in a metal trash can, doused him with an unknown liquid and threatened to light him on fire. It was all part of a demonstration outside parliament in which hundreds of members of the far-right parties of Ukraine—Right Sector, Avtomaidan and Volya—demanded the passage of law on something called “lustration.”
Lustration in Ukraine means cleansing the government from its past by screening officials and often punishing them for involvement in a past regime. Punishments can include stigmatization or removal from office. The point of lustration for many Ukrainians is to ensure the corruption that was so prevalent in the regime of Viktor Yanukovich, who was forced from office earlier this year, is eradicated. (The law passed, but it’s unclear what the net effect will be for members of parliament.)
The YouTube video shows Vitaliy Stanislavovich Zhuravskiy, a Ukrainian MP since 1998 with no party affiliation, lying in a dumpster while a protester forcefully holds his head down. Demonstrators push and shove the dumpster in every direction until the cops grab Zhuravskiy’s hands and pull him out. In the background, demonstrators are burning tires and shoving police officers.
4. More depth on the nature of the “new” political makeup of the Ukrainian government is provided by German-Foreign-Policy.com. Note that the “moderate” Yatsenyuk’s party has Andriy Biletsky, founder of the Azov Battalion as an adviser. Poroshenko has Svoboda member Oleg Makhnitsky as an adviser, as well as Roman Svarych, the personal secretary to Jaroslav Stetsko.
“Nationalist Upsurge”; german-foreign-policy.com; 10/24/2014.
The election campaign, ending this week in today’s pro-Western Ukraine, is characterized by extremist nationalism. According to opinion polls, the party of the politician, who had promoted himself using videos of his violations of the human rights of alleged pro-Russian separatists, is set to become second in Sunday’s elections. Considering the civil war’s nationalist upsurge, other parties have begun accepting militiamen into their ranks. The commander of the fascist Asov Battalion, for example, is a member of the “military council” of Prime Minister Arseniy Jazenjuk’s party. Last week, Asov Battalion militia members participated in the violent attacks on the Ukrainian parliament. During the election campaign, it was alleged that Kiev’s troops had used internationally banned cluster munitions in the Donetsk region. New social cuts are anticipated — regardless of the winner of the elections — to pay for the essential supplies of Russian gas. Berlin and the EU, whose hegemonic sphere Ukraine joined this year, are refusing to give Kiev additional material assistance. Aside from these issues, the former Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, admitted that he had completely invented the serious allegations he made against the Russian president. German media have widely reported on these allegations.
Summary Execution
The election campaign in today’s pro-Western Ukraine has been shaped, to a growing extent, by extremist nationalism. Opinion polls predict the victory of the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc,” whose top candidate, Vitali Klitschko, had been systematically groomed by the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation.[1] For months already, pollsters have been unanimously predicting that Oleh Lyashko’s “Radical Party” will come in second. With his violations of the human rights of alleged pro-Russian separatists, (german-foreign-policy.com reported [2]) Lyashko seems to attract a significant number of potentially fascist voters. Most recently, he aroused attention, when, in a TV talk show, he presented a prisoner — whom he claimed was a Russian soldier.[3] Lyashko also announced that, in the future, he will have captured separatists summarily executed. Polls give Lyashko more than ten percent of the vote. The Svoboda Party, which, up to now, had been the strongest force within the fascist spectrum, is expected to lose so many votes to Lyashko’s party that it will have to worry about whether it will achieve the 5% hurdle or have to depend on direct mandates. Svoboda may also lose votes to the “Right Sector,” which hardly has a chance of winning seats in the Verkhovna Rada.
“Crusade Against Untermenschen”
Beyond the spectrum of overtly fascist parties, particularly the “People’s Front” — the party of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who had been put in power by the West — is campaigning with well-known rightwing extremists. Tetiana Chornovol, the former press secretary of the fascist UNA-UNSO organization, who, in the meantime has joined the Asov Battalion, is the second candidate on the ballot of the “People’s Front.” The “People’s Front” has also established a “Military Council” to profit from the country’s nationalist war frenzy. The “Military Council” also includes Asov Battalion commander Andriy Biletsky. Biletsky once declared, “the historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival,” in “a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”[4] His Asov Battalion had participated in the violent attacks on the Ukrainian parliament. These attacks began October 14, when the majority of the deputies rejected the motion for declaring October 14 an official holiday. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which had also committed massacres on more then 90,000 Christian and Jewish Poles, was founded October 14, 1942.
Cluster Munitions
During the election campaign, there were also serious allegations raised against the government. According to recent reports — including those by western human rights organizations — Kiev government forces, particularly fascist militias, are committing serious human rights violations in the civil war in eastern Ukraine. It has also been reported that government units have used internationally banned cluster munitions in the Donetsk region. Cluster munitions are particularly dangerous to civilians. To date, 114 countries have signed the treaty banning cluster munitions. The Ukraine has not joined the treaty even after the pro-western coup in Kiev. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), there is strong evidence of Kiev’s government forces having used cluster munitions in attacks in early October — at the time, the ceasefire was already in effect. According to HRW, at least six people have been killed and dozens wounded by these internationally banned munitions. The real number of victims is probably higher, according to the human rights organization.[5]
Verge of Collapse
For the period following the elections, regardless of election results, there are already indications of new social cutbacks. Economically, Ukraine is on the verge of collapse. This year’s economic performance will shrink by up to ten percent, correspondents report. The budget could reach a deficit of more than seven percent of the gross domestic product. Since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian currency, the hryvna, has lost well over half of its value vis à vis the US dollar, causing the price of imported goods to soar. In addition, the costs of energy have also been rising; inflation is running at around twelve percent. No one expects the US $17 billion in IMF bailouts — up to 2016 — to suffice.[6] Therefore, now that Kiev has joined the Western hegemonic sphere of influence, it is insisting on financial support from Berlin and the EU. The German government is only willing to participate in limited financing. At best, a limited share of the costs for Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine could be covered, according to the EU’s Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger’s entourage. The Ukrainian government must revise its budget. This implies wide-ranging social cuts. The fact that no final agreement has been reached with Russia on the supply of natural gas is advantageous to President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The absolutely essential agreement and, with it, also the debate on more cuts, are, therefore, postponed until after elections.
Lies
Recent German media reports have demonstrated to what extent the western “freedom” PR campaign, even beyond the Ukrainian election campaign, is resorting to obvious lies for their power struggle with Russia. Last weekend, Radoslaw Sikorski, until recently, as Poland’s Foreign Minister, one of the EU’s most involved politicians in the Ukrainian conflict, was quoted claiming that in February 2008, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, proposed to him and the Polish Prime Minister, at the time, Donald Tusk, that Ukraine be divided up between Poland and Russia. “Tusk, fortunately, did not answer. He knew that the room was bugged,” claimed Sikorski. By Wednesday, it was claimed that the “suspicion” of Russia currently pursuing “an old plan of conquest,” has now “been further reinforced” by Sikorski’s declaration.[7] However, by then, Sikorski already had had to admit that, contrary to his earlier allegations, he had not even been present at the said meeting. He had been told that “a similar” statement had been made. He has now also admitted that the meeting in question had not even taken place.[8] This incident is but one in a long line of absurdities being propagated by western political PR and media. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[9])
Other reports and background information on Germany’s policy toward Ukraine can be found here: The Kiev Escalation Strategy, The Free World, A Fatal Taboo Violation, The Europeanization of Ukraine, Crisis of Legitimacy, “Fascist Freedom Fighters”, The Restoration of the Oligarchs (IV), Second-Class Stakeholders, Ukrainian Patriots, Ukrainian Maneuvers, A Lesson Learned and Under Tutelage.
[1] See Our Man in Kiev.
[2] See Radikalisierung im Parlament.
[3] Benjamin Bidder: Rechter Politiker Ljaschko: Der Mann, der die Ukraine aufhetzt. www.spiegel.de 22.10.2014.
[4] Ukraine crisis: the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists. www.telegraph.co.uk 11.08.2014.
[5] Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions. www.hrw.org 20.10.2014.
[6] Matthias Benz: Ein Land im Stresszustand. www.nzz.de 22.10.2014.
[7] Konrad Schuller: Ein schlechter Scherz? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 22.10.2014.
[8] Sikorski entschuldigt sich. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 23.10.2014.
[9] See “Moskaus Drang nach Westen”.
5. Poroshenko made October 14 a national holiday, honoring the founding of the OUN-UPA.
6a. It appears that Azov Battalion commander Andriy Biletsky was elected to Parliament as well.
6b. Deputy commander of the Azov Battalion, Vadim Troyan, just become Kiev’s chief of police (Google translated):
“Avakov Appointed Chief of Police of Kiev Region Zamkombata ‘Azov’ “; 10/31/2014.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov appointed chief of Research Affairs in Kyiv oblast party ATO, deputy battalion commander “Azov” Vadim Troyan.
He announced from the stage of the Center of Culture and Arts of Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs on Friday, Oct. 31, transmits “Ukrinform”.
“I have an order that has appointed Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Troyan departmental head of the Kiev region, and I hope that the patriots who proved his loyalty in battle countries that are competent, able, together with the old experts to form qualitatively new militia, which we expect,” — said the Minister.
Avakov added that Troyan is a graduate of the Police Academy, has experience, trust him, because he is well established in the ATO. “It frees Mariupol with” Azov “, fought under Ilovaiskaya, participated in the battles of Shirokino. We trust him. And today, the decision of the minister, he’s a police chief of Kiev region “- said the head of the Interior Ministry.
In reply, Vadim Troyan assured that the Ukrainians will not let such a responsible position. “When I was studying, I dreamed of changing the system and the fight against crime, to help the people of Ukraine. I think that this case is that God has given me — the battalion, the ministry and the people — I will not fail, “- he said.
6c. Azov Battalion member Igor Mosiychuk has been elected to parliament on the Radical Party ticket.
6d. Another Azov veteran (killed in action in August) was a close ally of Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who is a key member of Poroshenko’s political party. His widow, also an Azov associate and a member of Yatsenyuk’s Military Council, was head of the “anti-corruption” task force. This places her prominently in the “lustration law” milieu!
A close ally of Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and the husband of prominent journalist-turned-activist Tetyana Chornovol, was killed in action in the country’s conflict-torn east on Sunday.
Mykola Berezovy, 37, was fighting with the “Azov” battalion, a group of volunteer fighters under the control of the Interior Ministry, against Russian-backed rebels in the town of Ilovaisk some 30 miles southeast of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk when he was fatally wounded by a sniper’s bullet, said Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. . . .
. . . . Under the new government, Chornovol was appointed to lead Ukraine’s anti-corruption task force. . . .
. . . . Berezovy, the former head of Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) party in in what is now rebel-occupied Horlivka, Donetsk region, bled out while waiting for a medical assistance to arrive at the scene. . . . .
7. An article about Ukraine further develops the presence of Nazis and fascists in the so-called “moderate” political elements in Ukraine. The spin is interesting. Critics from the pro-EU faction are criticizing this as giving credence to what Putin is saying. The fact is that Putin has been making those statements because the pro-OUN/B heirs in Ukraine are, in fact, Nazis and fascists!
Activists and opponents warn that Poroshenko’s embrace of ultra-rightists plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin.
Experts who monitor ultra-right-wing groups and hate crimes have sent an open letter asking Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a key Poroshenko supporter, to exclude several Ukrainian nationalist leaders from his newly founded People’s Front party. These activists reminded Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko that some of the public figures appointed as the party candidates for the upcoming October parliamentary elections are openly anti-Semitic and are not known to have renounced their views. They promote radical Ukrainian nationalism, racism and neo-Nazi ideology—the heady brew of loathsome doctrines that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his backers have warned about since the February change of power in Kiev.
In photographs of the recent party congress, Yatsenyuk and former acting President Alexander Turchnov stood shoulder to shoulder with Andrei Biletsky, a leader in the far-right Patriots of Ukraine and the Social-Nationalist Assembly.
These groups are known for brawling, attacking public figures, and various hate crimes. Before the Russian-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine most were regarded as little more than hooligans. But in the face of Russia’s threats, Biletsky and other far-right figures have been transformed from fringe personalities into national heroes.
The volunteer battalion Biletsky serves with, Azov, counts a few hundred armed militants. “We don’t deny that a majority of our guys are Ukrainian patriots,” Biletsky said in a recent interview, published on Azov’s Facebook page. Western volunteers also supported Biletsky, he said: “Brits, Italians, Swedes, Russians, Belarusians, some Greeks, Croats and Poles. Foreigners are our elite forces.” The battalion’s symbol is a modified swastika, although for the record the group denies it is Nazi-inspired.
The more moderate opposition has criticized Poroshenko for seeming to welcome the “Nazi” partners while using them as cannon fodder in the war against Moscow and pro-Russian separatists.
In a recent interview with The Daily Beast in Kiev, Grigory Nemira, head of the European integration committee in the Ukraine parliament and a close ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said that Poroshenko preferred to delegate the responsibility for what happened on the front lines to volunteer commanders and not the defense ministry.
“The president still has not appointed a chief of staff for the armed forces,” said Nemira. “He has not admitted we are in a state of war, preferring to throw the battalions like Azov into the most dangerous combat zones, where authorities would not have the courage to send regular troops.”
The price these supposedly heroic battalion commanders demanded for their combat roles is representation in parliament. Russian forces have killed dozens of volunteer soldiers in recent battles, Biletsky said earlier this month, and “those who made a major sacrifice deserve to be represented in power.” His battalion fighters, some wearing undisguised swastika tattoos, often express anti-Semitic views. But that did not stop hundreds of Ukrainians from pushing “like” under Facebook photographs of Biletsky and his men.
The “Military Council” of the People’s Front welcomed a commander of the Dnper‑1 Battalion, Yuri Birch. Andriy Parubiy, a co-founder of Patriots of Ukraine back in the 1990s, also has found a role in the pro-Poroshenko camp. [Parubiy is from Svoboda and was Defense Minister through much of the early part of 2014.] He and a few other activists were tried for beating demonstrators in Lviv on November 7, 1997. During the February uprising on Maidan square, he worked closely with far-right groups as a commander of the Maidan self-defense troops. Last year, Patriots of Ukraine supporters and Biletsky were accused of attempting to kill journalist Sergei Kolesnik. He was detained but never convicted. Other supporters of the organization were jailed in 2011 for preparing a terrorist act. . . . .
8. The program concludes with a synoptic overview of the historical evolution of the OUN/B milieu that came to power in the wake of the Maidan coup. (We have covered the ascension of the OUN/B heirs in the Ukraine in a number of programs: FTR #‘s 777, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782, 783, 784, 794, 800, 803, 804, 808, 811, 817.)
- Ukrainian fascists working for the Third Reich were active in the U.S. during World War II.
- Under Stephan Bandera and Jaroslav Stetsko, the OUN/B were military and political allies of the Third Reich during the war. They explicitly endorsed the ideology and ethnic cleansing of Nazi Germany and implemented it against Jews, Poles and Russians during the war.
- The OUN-UPA–the military wing of the OUN/B–prosecuted a guerilla war in Ukraine, beginning during World War II itself and continuing until 1952 with the active assistance of Frank Wisner’s Office of Policy Coordination.
- The OUN/B became the dominant element of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations, a renaming of the Committee of Subjugated Nations formed by Adolph Hitler in 1943. Jaroslav Stetsko headed the group, with his widow Slava Stetsko assuming the post after her husband’s death in 1986.
- The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations became a key component of the World Anti-Communist League, which figured prominently in U.S. covert operations and foreign policy during the Cold War. WACL was deeply involved in the support for the Contra guerillas in Nicaragua.
- The ABN and the OUN/B also figure in the assassination of President Kennedy.
- The guerilla warfare in Ukraine was part of the Crusade For Freedom, a covert operation that had a powerful domestic component. Thousands of Nazi and fascist collaborators, including OUN/B operatives, were imported into the United States to become a critical element of the Republican Party. The CFF was the creation of Allen Dulles and was overseen by Richard Nixon. The chief spokesperson for it was Ronald Reagan. William Casey handled the State Department machinations to bring these operatives into the United States. George Herbert Walker Bush installed the Nazis as a permanent wing of the Republican Party when he served as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
- Ronald Reagan’s election saw the CFF milieu institutionalized. Reagan (CFF spokesman) was President; George H.W. Bush was Vice President (he made the Nazis a permanent element of the GOP); William Casey, who was Reagan’s campaign manager, became head of the CIA (Casey handled the State Department machinations to bring the Nazis into the U.S.)
- Reagan’s Deputy Director of Public Liaison was Ykaterina Chumachenko, a key OUN/B operative. OUN/B member Lev Dobriansky became Reagan’s Ambassador to the Bahamas, while his daughter Paula was placed on Reagan’s National Security Council. Later, Paula Dobriansky became an Deputy Secretary of State under George W. Bush, in charge of the Tibet desk.
- Roman Svarych served as Jaroslav Stetsko’s personal secretary during the 1980’s.
- The Reagan administration implemented “liberation ideology”–a Nazi political warfare strategy–to help break up the U.S.S.R.
- The Free Congress Foundation played a key role in the political infiltration and indoctrination of the former Warsaw Pact countries and the Soviet Union itself. The head of its operations there was Laszlo Pasztor, a Hungarian Arrow Cross veteran who was a key ABN agent after the war. Pasztor headed up the GOP’s Nazi wing. Nazi and fascist elements tracking back to World War II were projected into territories where the FCF was active. They took root there and have provided momentum and ideological support for the OUN/B heirs in Ukraine. OUN/B forces were a major element of the FCF’s activities in the former Soviet Bloc.
- After Ukraine gained its independence after the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., Roman Svarych and Slava Stetsko formed the Ukrainian National Congress, which became a pivotal element in post-Cold War Ukrainian governance. Svarych served as justice minister under Victor Yuschenko and in both of Yulia Timoshenko’s administrations. Svarych is an adviser to Petro Poroshenko.
- Ykaterina Chumachenko married Victor Yuschenko and became first lady of Ukraine. Yuschenko implemented an Orwellian re-write of Ukrainian World War II history, lionizing the OUN/B and paving the way for the ascension of Svoboda and related elements. Both Stephan Bandera and Roman Shukheyvych (head of the OUN-UPA) were name heroes of the Ukraine by Yuschenko.
- Svoboda head Oleh Tyhanybok was honored by veterans of the 14th Waffen SS division in 2010. Svoboda returned the honor in 2013 in Lvov.
- The Maidan coup occurs in late 2013 and early 2014, with Svoboda and Pravy Sektor, as well as other OUN/B heir playing a prominent role in the coup, as well as gaining several critical cabinet appointments in the provisional government. A street in the Lvov district was name in honor of the Nachtigall Battalion (Einsatzgruppe Nachtigall), that liquidated the Jewish population of Lvov, as well as many of its Polish residents. Roman Shukheyvych commanded the unit.
- As the Ukrainian civil war developed, people from OUN/B successors such as the Azov Battalion, Svoboda, Pravy Sektor, the Radical Party, the UNA-UNSO are incorporated into the so-called “moderate” political groupings.
Vice has a new report on the reported use of incendiary weapons on civilians areas in eastern Ukraine. Their conclusion: such weapons were used, but it wasn’t banned white phosphorous but instead a type of barely regulated incendiary weapon developed by the Soviet military that can be legally be used against enemy forces even if they are “in close proximity to concentrations of non-combatants” according to Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCCW). But use in such circumstance is only allowed if it’s fire from a surface-to-surface missile and not and air-to-surface missile. The article also points out that the missile launchers used in this instance are older systems not known for their accuracy. So it’s possible that incendiaries weapons were used against civilian populations by the Kiev forces legally, but only due to a horrible loophole:
Here’s an article that points towards a rather jarring aspect of a rivalry between President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatseniuk: There appears to be a conflict over which one of them gets to choose who heads the interior ministry. Why? Because that’s where the National Guard and “volunteer battalions” are controlled. So there appears to be a power struggle over control of the “volunteer battalions”. That’s, um, more than a little ominous:
“The effects of the war in east Ukraine were visible in the makeup of the Rada. Instead of police, fighters from several volunteer battalions in shabby uniforms guarded the perimeter, while inside more than a dozen men in fatigues walked the corridors as newly elected MPs.” Welcome to Ukrain’s new parliament:
As we can see, these volunteer battalions have apparently replaced the police as the new parliamentary security service while at the same time the commanders of the Donbas battalion and the Aidar battalion (now both MPs) are clearly at odds with each other. It’s a reminder of the perilous risks associated with elevating obviously metally disturbed individuals into positions of authority. It’s also a reminder of just how much power these “volunteer battalions” have acquired since a revolution that’s not even a year old.
And here’s a reminder that the powerful business interests that created and financed these battalions are likely to apply pressures on squabbling “volunteer battalion” MPs in order to create a unified front. After all, those “volunteer battalions” aren’t free, and the businessmen that pay for them aren’t doing this without ambitions of their own: “Alexander and his colleagues are looking to battalion commanders who have been elected to the new parliament to start forming a voting bloc to force through change. They are talking about setting up a parallel defense ministry in the form of an NGO to provide greater command-and-control structure to the militias”:
“A parallel defense ministry in the form of an NGO”. Oh great.
Following the anti-Russian “lustration” laws, check out Petro Poroshenko’s latest scheme: change the citizenship laws to allow select foreigners to get fast-tracked citizenship in order to allow them to hold cabinet positions. It sounds like he’s also considering just allowing foreigners to fill those posts without the citizenship requirement. Given the penchant for the “volunteer battalions” to hint at coups in Kiev, you have to wonder how Ukraine’s far right is going to react to this idea. Especially since Poroshenko’s administration has already hired a recruitment firm:
The Kiev Oblast’s new chief of police Vadym Troyan, formerly a deputy commander of the Azov battalion, wishes people wouldn’t see him as a Nazi and instead focus on his positive, anti-corruption agenda. He also denies any connections to right-wing extremist organizations, says that the Azov battalion was tolerant, and generally sees extremist right-wing groups as marginalized and a fear primarily stirred up by Russian propaganda meant to turn international sentiment against Ukraine. That’s uplifting...the new chief of police for the Kiev region declares cracking down on corruption as his top priority while clearly demonstrating his belief that everyone around him is blind, deaf, and dumb:
“One of Georgia still most positively seen reforms was a reform of the police that began with a mass firing. One year since the Maidan protests began Ukraine still lacks signature reforms to define its new government.” So it sounds like a mass police firing is probably in the works. Say hello to Ukraine’s future police force.
Democracy continues to blossom in the new Ukraine:
Over 100 police were injure and one killed in Kiev during a protest led by armed Svoboda and Right Sector members that turned violent. Right after the parliament passed a preliminary vote to overhaul the constitution to allow for greater decentralization, including potentially granting the rebel regions greater autonomy as part of the peace-process, someone threw a grenade at the cops guarding the parliament:
That gives us an idea of the levels of resistance to any sort of decentralization as part of the peace process. But as the article below points out, recent polls have also shown the majority of Ukrainians do actually support the decentralization process. At the same time, anxiety over granting the rebel regions “special” status remain, with many questioning whether or not doing so in effect signals the west has already lost the civil war.
So, putting aside neo-Nazi groups lik Svoboda and Right Sector who appear to oppose anything other than complete military liquidation of the rebels, it’s looking like most people in Ukraine do indeed want decentralization, but not necessarily extra-decentralization for the east:
“The storm in society is mostly over the issue of special status for [the rebel zones]. This bill is like a candy that’s fine – except for a couple of noxious chemicals that it’s laced with”.
That appears to be a common sentiment, which raises a number of questions about how the peace process moves forward because if the “noxious chemicals” include things like:
it’s not really clear what’s going to get the rebel leaders to agree to a settlement. Isn’t legitimizing the separatists as fellow Ukrainians sort of a basic starting point? Or is that no longer an option?
With the death toll from the grenade attack against the police in Kiev during the Svoboda-led protests now rising to three dead, it’s worth noting that Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok was front and center at the protests. It’s also worth noting that both Svoboda and Right Sector are blaming the government for the attack:
Note how Svoboda appears to be taking the brunt of the blame for the attack, with Right Sector even being given some sort of “come into the light” offer by a member of the Poroshenko Bloc:
Oh, how the mighty have fallen...even lower...lower than seemed possible: it looks like this grenade attack may have knocked Svoboda below Right Sector in terms of political respectability. If that’s not the political equivalent of hitting rock bottom, there is no rock bottom.
It will be a great day for Ukraine when stories like this are once again surprising:
“This kind of humiliation of Ukrainians has not been recorded in our history yet. During a visit to Israel, President Poroshenko apologized for the ‘Ukrainian participation in the Holocaust,’”
So according to Radical Party leader Oleg Lyashko, when Poroshenko did that standard thing that leaders do and issued an apology for a past horror, it was the greatest humiliation in Ukraine’s history. It’s almost as if Lyashko takes it personally. Of course, since this is the same guy who featured a campaign poster depicting a caricatured Jewish oligarch getting impaled on a trident and whose fellow party member sings tributes to Hitler, he presumably does take it rather personally.
Ukraine’s bizarre experiment in importing foreigners to run its government (under the theory that non-Ukrainians would be better at rooting out corruption) took another blow recently. Mikheil Saakashvili resigned as governor of Odessa, citing central-government obstruction of his anti-corruption campaign:
“Standing in front of Odessa’s seaport, Mr. Saakashvili signaled that he would continue to be involved in Ukrainian politics. One of his allies, Ukraine’s former deputy prosecutor David Sakvarelidze, recently started a new political party that cites Mr. Saakashvili as its “ideologist.””
So he’s stepping down, but not leaving Ukrainian politics. We’ll see what the future holds for Mikheil’s career as an anti-corruption reformer, but since he can’t return to Georgia without facing prosecution over corruption, residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn shouldn’t super surprised if a hipster you looks just like Saakashvili returns to their streets in coming years.
But that wasn’t the only recent instance of Ukraine’s imported anti-corruption figures resigning in apparent disgust. Two other Georgians just resigned, including Ukraine’s national chief of police:
“Meanwhile, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported that Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov thanked Dekanoidze for her work and said Vadim Troyan would fulfill the duties of the head of Ukraine’s National Police. Troyan is first deputy head of Ukraine’s National Police.”
Yes, it’s out with Dekanoidze and in with Troyan as the head of the national police. And yes, that’s Vadim Troyan, the former deputy commander of the neo-Nazi Azov Batallion, who is now the acting chief of Ukraine’s National Police. So the individual Ukraine brought in to clean up corruption in the national police force got replaced with a neo-Nazi. It’s a reminder that Ukraine’s anti-corruption reform, which is basically anti-fascist reform since we’re talking about an entrenched oligarchy, could probably benefit from a hefty dose of anti-neo-Nazi reforms too.