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Discrimination along ethnic and linguistic lines, xenophobia and racial extremism.
This study covers the period from the end of November 2013 to the end of March 2014 and deals with the situation with human rights and the rule of law that emerged in Ukraine as a result of a violent seizure of power and unconstitutional coup.
As a factual basis, a careful monitoring of Ukrainian, Russian and some Western media reports was conducted, covering statements and announcements made by the leaders of the “new government” of Ukraine and their supporters, numerous eyewitness accounts, including those posted on the Internet, as well as records based on observations and interviews with people on the scene, and those collected by non-governmental organization The Foundation for Researching Problems in Democracy, and the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights.
Excerpts from the basic international documents on human rights whose universal regulations and standards have been violated in Ukraine during the indicated period precede each section of this study.
We do not claim to report exhaustively in this White Book all tragic events that took place in Ukraine. Nonetheless, the present list of the most flagrant violations of fundamental international norms of human rights and the rule of law committed in this country, by ultranationalist, neo-Nazi, and extremist forces which have monopolized the Euromaidan protests, far from being exhaustive, gives enough grounds to claim that such violations were widespread.
The essential task of this White Book is to focus on facts to which the international community and key international human rights bodies, as well as relevant nongovernmental organizations have not shown proper and impartial attention.
The history of the twentieth century has given tragic lessons which would be irresponsible and also at times just unlawful to ignore. The White Book is a signal to those who have forgotten this or pretend to forget. Those who cynically, in pursuit of their own selfish interests and under the guise of good intentions and pseudo-democratic demagogy, are plunging a multimillion multi-ethnic Ukrainian population into extremism, lawlessness, and a deep crisis of national identity.
The onslaught of racism, xenophobia, ethnic intolerance, the glorification of the Nazis and their Banderite sycophants should be brought to a speedy end through the united efforts of the Ukrainian people and the international community. The alternative is fraught with so devastating consequences for peace, stability, and democratic development in Europe, that it is absolutely necessary to prevent further escalation of this situation.
Article 21. The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
Article 26. All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.
Article 2. Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary … in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection.
November 24, 2013. The first clashes between the police and demonstrators occurred in Kiev. After the opposition rally entitled For a European Ukraine, a portion of the demonstrators (mostly supporters of the nationalist All-Ukrainian Union (AAU) Svoboda) tried to break into the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine building’s territory and block the passage for government vehicles. Aggressive demonstrators attacked the police and broke a barrier. The mob attacked the law enforcement officers with firecrackers. The police retaliated, using tear gas to stop the protestors’ aggression.
November 26-27, 2013. Activists from several right-wing groups, including the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization Trizub (Trident) movement, the SocioNational Assembly/Patriot of Ukraine (SNA/PU), the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) party, the Bilyi Molot (White Hammer) group, as well as football fans, organized the informal Pravyi Sektor (Right Sector) association at Euromaidan. Under this «brand», radical nationalist activists were further mobilized to participate in the Euromaidan rebellion, including participating in violent confrontations with law enforcement officers.
November 30, 2013. Right-wing activists primarily associated with Pravyi Sektor, organized trainings on tactics for violent confrontation with law enforcement officials, including exercising of group actions using available tools as melee weapons. Formation of the so-called Samoobrana maidana (Maidan Self-Defense) groups began.
December 1. During a mass demonstration in Kiev, activists of radical nationalist groups, joined by football hooligans, some radical activists in AUU Svoboda, and protesting youth, carried out a series of illegal actions.
Bankovaya street in Kiev (the so-called «assault on the Presidential Administration of Ukraine»).
Same evening, activists of right-wing groups, including members of AUU Svoboda, attempted to vandalize the monument to Lenin on Shevchenko Boulevard, provoking a clash with members of the Special Forces.
December 2, 2013. The first attempts were made at the violent seizure of regional state administration (RSA) buildings in Western Ukraine, including Ivano-Frankivsk (the seizure by AUU Svoboda militants failed) and Volyn (seizure by supporters of the AUU Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) movement was repulsed by police).
December 8, 2013. A group of extremists demolished and destroyed the monument to Lenin on Shevchenko Boulevard in Kiev. Responsibility for this act of vandalism was claimed by AUU Svoboda, which is represented in the Parliament.
December 10, 2013. Opponents of the current government put up a fierce resistance to law enforcement officers who were trying to comply with the decision of the Shevchenko district court of Kiev on the Prohibition of blocking government buildings and obstructing the governmental activity. Euromaidan supporters barricaded themselves inside the Kiev city state administration building and deliberately provoked the police to use force by throwing stones from the windows at law enforcement and pouring water over them using fire hoses. Due to the gravity of the situation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was forced to withdraw the Special Forces from the captured building.
December 11, 2013. Euromaidan protestors set up barricades around the perimeter of Maidan and Khreschatyk Boulevard and announced the resumption of picketing the government quarter.
January 19-25, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants engaged in violent clashes with security forces on Grushevski St. Over 300 people (most of them police officers) were injured.
January 22, 2014. Brody State Administration in Lviv Oblast was violently taken over by AUU Svoboda forces.
January 23, 2014. Lviv, Ternopil and Rivne Regional State Administrations were violently taken over by AUU Svoboda forces.
January 24, 2014. In the Ukraine regions, the formation of the so-called «People’s Self-Defense groups» and the so-called «People’s Councils» began under the supervision of AUU Svoboda. Preparations began for carrying out the rebellion and seizure of power in Kiev, as well as fundraising and the stockpiling of ammunition for rioters on Maidan.
January 24-26, 2014. Forcible takeovers of the regional administration buildings in Sumy, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Uzhgorod were attempted.
January 25, 2014. Activists of the radical movement Obschee Delo (Common Cause) attempted to seize Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine premises.
January 25, 2014. Activists of the radical movement Obshee Delo seized the the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
January 27, 2014. The opponents of the current government seized the buildings of regional administrations in all areas of Western Ukraine, except for the Transcarpathian region.
February 14, 2014. Party of Regions’ deputy A.Herman’s Lviv house was set on fire.
February 18, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants forcibly took over the headquarters of the Party of Regions in Kiev. Two men were brutally murdered. One was forcibly locked in the basement, hit by a «Molotov cocktail» and died of suffocation and burns. The other’s head was smashed in and he was thrown down a flight of stairs. Females who were present in the building were stripped half-naked, their backs were painted with symbols and slogans, and then they were kicked out into the street. D. Svyatash, Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Supreme Council) deputy for the Party of Regions, was severely beaten.
February 18, 2014. Supporters of Euromaidan attempted to capture the Interior Ministry and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) buildings in Ternopil and Ivano- Frankivsk regions, in order to appropriate weapons.
February 18-19, 2014. A number of buildings in the center of Kiev (among them, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Central House of Officers, House of Trade Unions) were burned and destroyed. Extremists seized the building of the conservatory (where the headquarters of the «Euro Revolution» was established), the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, the Central Post Office of the capital, and the hotel «Ukraine».
18-21 February 2014. Large-scale street riots in Kiev resumed, which resulted, according to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, in the killing of 77 people (including 16 law enforcement officers), with more than a thousand injured.
February 18-19, 2014. A group of radicals seized the building of the Lviv regional state administration overnight. Riots were staged in the Lviv region Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) building, in the Lviv oblast District Attorney’s Office, and at the Lviv region Office of Security Services (USBU) of Ukraine. After the riots at the MIA and USBU buildings, the law enforcement officers who were forced out of the building were stripped of their epaulets, disrobed of their uniforms, all of which was thrown into a bonfire that was started near the building’s entrance.
Buildings of Military Unit N9 4114 of Interior Troops of Ukraine in Lviv (barracks, arsenal, and storeroom) were burned down. As a result, the officers and soldiers of the unit completely lost their uniforms, ammunition, weapons, and a place to sleep.
February 19, 2014. In Lviv, rioters captured the Interior Ministry and the four central district police departments, including the armory district departments (up to 1,300 firearms were stolen). A list of Party of Regions members with their mobile phone numbers (approximately 150 people) was posted at the prosecutor’s office building.
February 19, 2014. The so-called «People’s Self-Defense» activists established roadblocks at the state and regional level, as well as at entrances to the major cities of Western Ukraine.
Bashkalenko was severely beaten and tortured publically in Lutsk. He was handcuffed to the local Euromaidan stage and asked to sign a «voluntary» resignation. After refusing, he was thrown on his knees, which caused him to smash his forehead on the ground. Five liters of water were poured on him, and then he was cuffed to the stage again. When that did not work, the Euromaidan activists took the governor away in an unknown direction and sent a group of thugs to his house to intimidate his family members.
February 19, 2014. Near the town of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky (Cherkassy region), several buses with passengers, who were returning to Crimea from protests against European integration at St. Michael’s Square in Kiev, were fired upon and stopped at the barricades, where the flags of the UPA, the Udar (Strike) party and AUU Svoboda were flying. The people, both men and women, were dragged out of the buses through a «corridor» of militants who beat them with bats and entrenching shovels. Then the passengers were knocked down in a heap on the roadside, doused with gasoline, and threatened to be set on fire. According to witnesses, militants from the crowd shouted: «Just wait, we’re going to come and get you in Crimea. We are going to stab you and shoot you, that is, those of you who we haven’t already beaten to a pulp and shot up yet». After that, many Crimeans were forced to take off their shoes «for the needs of Maidan soldiers», and they were driven around the buses like cattle and forced to pick up the broken glass. The humiliation and abuse continued for several hours. There were casualties among the victims. Most of the buses were burned. The local police, who arrived at the scene, chose not to intervene.
February 21, 2014. People’s Self-Defense activists fired at a bus with Belarusian tourists who were traveling to Western Ukraine. As a result, the bus driver, a Russian citizen, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound.
February 21, 2014. The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the leaders of the three opposition parties — Vladimir Klitschko (Udar), A. Yatsenyuk (AUU Batkivshchyna), and O. Tyagnibok (AUU Svoboda) — signed an agreement on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, mediated by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Poland, and France, which included a return to the 2004 Constitution, constitutional reform (to be carried out before September 2014), the organization of early presidential elections no later than December 2014, the formation of a national unity government, the end of opposition occupation of administrative and public buildings, the surrender of illegal weapons, and the renunciation of the use of force on both sides.
On the same day, when the parliamentary opposition leaders publically announced on Maidan the conditions of signing the Agreement, a representative of the so-called «Maidan Self-Defense» V. Parasyuk said that he and the rest of the SelfDefense members were not satisfied with a document that agreed on gradual political reforms. He demanded the immediate resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych; otherwise Self-Defense was going to go to storm the Presidential Administration and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This proclamation was met with applause. Pravyi Sektor leader D. Yarosh stated that the Agreement showed no clear commitment for the President resignation, the parliament’s dissolution, the punishment of heads of security agencies and other parties who had carried out «criminal orders». He called the agreement «another attempt to pull the wool over the people’s eyes» and refused to implement it.
February 21-23, 2014. Euromaidan supporters in 18 Ukrainian cities (including Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Chernigov, Kherson, Sumy and Zhytomyr) demolished monuments to Lenin.
Darchina, Mayor of Tismenitsya (Ivano-Frankivsk region) and searched it. They were looking for some documents and the mayor himself, who managed to escape. The next day B. Darchin sent in his resignation.
February 22, 2014. A monument to a Soviet soldier was removed in a city of Stri in the Lviv oblast.
February 22, 2014. Euromaidan activists succeed in capturing the government district, which was abandoned by police officers, and they issued a number of new demands, in particular, the immediate resignation of President Yanukovych.
February 22, 2014. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine V. Rybak (Party of Regions) tendered his resignation due to illness and the need for treatment (according to unofficial data, the reason for his departure became fear for his safety). O. Turchynov (AUU Batkivshchyna) was elected the the new Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.
The first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, member of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) I. Kaletnik, also penned his resignation. It is significant to note that the entire subsequent period was marked by massive intimidation of Verkhovna Rada deputies from the ruling Party of Regions and the Communist Party members by the supporters of Euromaidan.
February 22, 2014. A crowd of Euromaidan supporters caught Deputy from the Party of Regions N. Shufrich leaving the Verkhovna Rada building of Ukraine. Only the intervention of the Udar party leader V. Klichko, who appealed not to lynch Shufrich, saved him.
February 22, 2014. Euromaidan supporters detained, illegally sentenced and tortured the first secretary of the city committee of the Communist Party of Lviv R. Vasilko. According to eyewitnesses, he had needles pushed under fingernails, his right lung pierced, three ribs, nose, and facial bones broken. The rioters also threatened to destroy his family. After the severe torture, R. Vasilko was taken to hospital, where the threats continued. Eventually, Vasilko had to flee Ukraine with the help of his relatives.
The central office the Communist Party newspaper in Kiev was sacked, as well as the Kiev offices of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, and the Pechersk and Sviatoshynskyi district committees of the Communist Party in Kiev.
Almost all the regional committees of the Communist Party were seriously damaged, but especially the ones in Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Rivne oblast, and all district committees. The regional and city offices in Volyn and Lutsk and many other party premises were taken over by illegal armed groups.
The Communist Party, remaining a legal parliamentary party, was actually forced to shut down. Given the threat of deadly violence a large majority of the Communist Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine moved to the Crimea or Russia.
The remaining few Communist Party MPs in Parliament protested against the lawlessness in the country and did not participate in voting.
February 22, 2014. On a stage installed in Lviv’s central square, near the monument to Taras Shevchenko, local nationalists forced Ukrainian Interior Ministry «Berkut» Special Forces of Lviv to «get on [their] knees and beg for forgiveness for participating in actions against Euromaidan in Kiev.
Similar incidences occurred in Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lutsk.
February 23, 2014. The decision was made in the Verkhovna Rada to appoint Speaker O. Turchynov as interim President of Ukraine for the period up to May 25, 2014. After that, the legitimate President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced to leave the country because of threats to his life and the lives of his family, said during a press conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on 28 February 2014, that he was still the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state, elected by the free will of its citizens, noting also that none of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution of Ukraine on the early termination of Presidential powers (including resignation, illness, death, or impeachment) were followed properly.
February 23, 2014. People’s deputy O. Lyashko (leader of «the Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko») introduced a draft decree in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, banning the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions. Commenting on this, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said that such a move would be a violation of the law, as the law clearly states that the Party can only be prohibited by court decision.
February 23, 2014. Members of «Ptavy Sektor» imposed tributes on shops in Kiev, stating that the money collected was «protection fees».
February 23, 2014. In Uzhgorod, Transcarpathian region, local activists of Pravyi Sektor tied the regional administration head of customs S. Harchenko to a pole in front of administration building. The activists threatened him with violence, and he was forced to resign.
February 23, 2014. Volyn region district attorney staff turned to the acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine with a request for protection, given that Pravyi Sekyor militants forced them to resign from their posts, and in the case of disagreement, they were threatened with firearms.
February 24, 2014. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution «On Reaction to the Facts of Breach of Oath of a Judge by Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.» The Resolution was provided for the early termination of office and dismissal, due to «breach of oath», of five Constitutional Court of Ukraine judges, including the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. In addition, the Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine was instructed to open criminal proceedings against all the judges who, in the opinion of People’s Deputies of Ukraine, were guilty of passing the Constitutional Court of Ukraine order on September 30, 2010, No. 20-wd/2010 (Case No. 1-45/2010 on compliance procedures making amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine).
February 24 and 27, 2014. On two occasions, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine held a political amnesty, freeing 28 people who were jailed on the suspicion of committing a crime or who had already been found guilty of committing one. It is indicative that not all the amnestied individuals, who were presented to the public as «political prisoners», were involved in any political action.
For example, Sergey and Dmitry Pavlychenko were criminated for murdering a judge and subsequently convicted. Another amnestied «political prisoner» was Igor Gannenko, the leader of a neo-Nazi gang, which committed crimes motivated by ethnic, racial, and religious hatred, including anti-Semitism. I. Gannenko and his group of four were convicted in January 2013 for «hooliganism» (in March 2013, the Court of Appeal of the Sumy region confirmed this sentence).
Some amnestied radical nationalists, taking on the romantic aura of «martyrdom», immediately rushed to take an active part in the political life of the country. Vindicated by their imprisonment, they manipulated young adults and teenagers, casting themselves and those of their kind as heroes. This primarily regards the group of leaders of the «Patriot of Ukraine» movement. Between 2006 and 2011 this group, according to human rights NGOs, was the most serious neo-Nazi organization in Ukraine. The movement’s leader, Andrey Biletsky, along with two activists, was accused of attempted murder (the so-called «Defenders of Rymarskaya» case). The ideologist of the organization, Oleg Odnorozhenko, was accused of organizing several beatings of political opponents by the «Patriot of Ukraine» militants, and participating in these beatings.
The most famous of the amnestied «Patriot of Ukraine» activists were the so-called «Vasilkovsky terrorists», including Igor Moseichuk, Sergei Bevz, and Vladimir Shpara. They were radical nationalists from Vasylkov, the Kiev region and, by a January 2014 ruling of the Kiev region Svyatoshinsky District Court, were convicted of preparing a terrorist act. Just a few days after their release, the amnestied «Patriot of Ukraine» movement leaders became involved in the political life of Ukraine under the Pravyi Sektor banner.
February 24, 2014. The coordinator of Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine A. Muzychko (also known as Sashko Bily) came to a meeting of the presidium of the regional council of Rivne, and, exposing a machine gun and hunting knife, demanded that the Party of Regions shall «buy housing for relatives of the dead activists of this movement» (i.e. Pravyi Sektor). Otherwise, he promised to confiscate the apartments and houses of former regional leaders of the Party of Regions.
February 24, 2014. The Party of Regions faction leader in the Verkhovna Rada A. Yefremov gave a briefing about an incident with the daughter of one of his colleagues. During the night, some unknown men busted through her door and trashed her Kiev apartment in order to «see how the children of deputies live». He also noted that 74 deputies resigned from the Party of Regions faction because of intimidation tactics.
February 24, 2014. In response to the rejection of the «new Kiev government» by the inhabitants of the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, leaders of right-wing groups in Ukraine (AUU Svoboda, Pravyi Sektor, Patriot of Ukraine, Social- National Assembly of Ukraine) issued a statement calling for the «punishment» of Crimeans for their openly expressed civil position. In particular, the activist Igor Moseychuk, who was convicted for terrorism and amnestied by the «new government», publicly proposed to arrange «trains of friendship» consisting of the right-wing nationalist militants to punish the inhabitants of the peninsula for their decision.
February 25, 2014. Pravyi Sektor and Maidan Self-Defense activists broke into the office of the Trading Services firm in Ivano-Frankivsk, and seized the Director I. Dutka, who led the Ivano-Frankivsk city division of the Party of Regions. He was taken out to the crowd and forced to kneel and ask for forgiveness.
Wahhabi sympathizers. As a result of the massive attack, civilians who voluntarily defended the administrative building were killed.
February 27, 2014. A video surfaced on the Internet showing the coordinator of the Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine, A. Muzychko (Sashko Bily) publicly beat and humiliated employee of Rivne prosecutor’s office A. Targoniya at his workplace.
February 27-28, 2014. Crimean self-defense forces managed to prevent a major terrorist attack on the peninsula. At one of the checkpoints an attempt was thwarted to import the explosive power of 400 pounds of TNT into the territory of the autonomous republic. The attempters were detained by the self-defense forces. However, the regional investigating authorities of Kherson, where the detainees were transferred, still have not given any legal assessment to the facts.
End of February, 2014. The illegal armed groups seized the Dovzhenko Film Studio administrative building. The aggressors demanded access to the shop that housed weapons and pyrotechnics.
Beginning of March, 2014. On social networks, a massive campaign seeking to intimidate Crimeans was employed by Pravyi Sektor militants and other nationalist organizations with the financial support of the «Kiev regime». The Crimean people were ordered, under the threat of physical violence, not to participate in peaceful demonstrations opposing the Maidan movement. Crimean activists, including Tatar religious figures, their relatives, and children received threatening messages on their phones.
March 1, 2014. Using his personal profile on Russian social-networking website «Vkontakte», the leader of the Praviy Sektor D. Yarosh appealed to the leader of the Chechen terrorists Doku Umarov (in 2010, the U.S. officially included Umarov on its list of international terrorists; in 2011, the UN Security Council included him on its list of terrorists linked to al-Qaeda) for support, entailing the organization of terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation.
March 1 and 2 2014. Nationalist groups organized pickets outside the Russian Consulate General in Lviv. In the evening, the protesters attempted to block the main vehicle entrance gate using their personal vehicles.
March 3, 2014. Pravyi Sektor gunmen carried out a series of arson attacks on non- residential premises and private vehicles of Crimean residents.
March 3, 2014. It was reported that the Ukranian Parliamaent is ready to introduce a bill that calls for a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years for Ukrainian citizens who apply for a second citizenship. The document was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the beginning of February 2014 by deputies from the Batkivshchyna faction, Alexander Brigintsa, Leonid Emtsom and Andrei Pavlovsky. The bill’s authors still do not consider it necessary to withdraw the bill.
March 5, 2014. A recording of the telephone conversation, dated February 26, 2014, between the Estonian Foreign Minister U. Paet and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, following the visit of the Foreign Minister of Estonia to Ukraine, surfaced on the Internet. During the conversation, Paet referred to information, received from the chief Maidan doctor O. Bogomolets, about snipers who had shot people during the protests in Kiev. According to Paet, all evidence points to the fact that both protesters and law enforcement officers were killed by the same snipers. He said that the new coalition is unwilling to investigate the exact circumstances of the incident and the people are growing rapidly aware that these snipers were not hired by Yanukovych, but by someone from the new coalition.
Paet also noted that in Ukraine, there is very strong pressure on the members of parliament. He said that journalists saw armed men beat a deputy in broad daylight in front of the Verkhovna Rada.
March 6, 2014. Euromaidan supporters in Sevastopol carried out an assault at a collection point for humanitarian aid.
March 6, 2014. There were reports posted on the Ukrainian forum antifashist. com, that the people’s governor of Donetsk Region Pavel Gubarev, who had been detained the same day by the Security Service of Ukraine, was being tortured. The reports stated that, according to data obtained from physicians working in SBU prison in Kiev, where P. Gubarev is being held, he was severely beaten several times and eventually fell into a coma. Prison physicians didn’t have enough medical opportunities to attend to P. Gubarev in jail, but the medics were prohibited to transfer him to another facility because the Security Service did not want to make the incident public. Shortly after, the portal of Vremya Novosti (News Time) had information that P. Gubarev had not just been beaten but also tortured in order to force him to confess that he was on a mission from Russian special services.
March 8, 2014. Self-Defense Forces in Simferopol, Crimea, detained two national- radicals, natives of Rivne, who had been previously convicted. They admitted that, among other extremists, they were sent to the Crimea by Pravyi Sektor with the objective to penetrate in small groups (2-3 people) into the autonomous region, in order to destabilize the peninsula (committing robberies, organizing fights, and other offenses).
Ukrainian activists of right-wing organizations located in the Crimea shouted extremist slogans during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko in Simferopol. They also tried, in front of the cameras of purposely invited Western journalists, to stage a dramatized brawl in order to show Crimeans victimizing them (near the venue of the rally, a young man was seated in the provocateurs’ car, with his head pre-painted with red paint imitating blood).
March 8, 2014. In Kharkov, about 10 radical nationalists attacked the activists, who were returning from the rally against the current Kiev authorities. As a result, several activists were injured, and one of them was subsequently hospitalized.
March 9, 2014 Pravyi Sektor militants gunned down E. Slonevsky, a local businessman, at a cafe in the center of Kharkov. One more visitor was killed and a waiter wounded.
March 9, 2014. Cases of destruction of Crimea peninsula residents’ passports by provocateurs were documented. The said provocateurs visited houses under the guise of Crimean law enforcement officials and representatives of electoral commissions, asking the citizens to show their passports, and once having received them, tore them, making them invalid.
March 10, 2014. While trying to break through the Crimean Self-Defense forces checkpoint, a Pravyi Sektor activist resorted to using weapons; however, he was neutralized and sent to the hospital.
A resident of Ivano-Frankivsk who arrived in Sevastopol brought down fire on Ephraim St. After his arrest, he said that in Kiev, he acquired the weapons and was assigned a task to stage a provocation. He had three other accomplices. They rented an apartment in the Gagarin district of Sevastopol. During the search of the apartment, extremist leaflets were found.
March 11, 2014. Thirty masked men with wooden sticks entered the premises of the Sviatoshynskyi district prosecutor’s office in Kiev. They threatened to inflict physical harm on the senior prosecutor and his family members, and demanded that he write a letter of resignation. The prosecutor refused, and he and his colleague were severely beaten.
March 11, 2014. In Rivne, the coordinator of Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine A. Muzychko (Sashko Bily) announced in an interview with a journalist from the Vesti newspaper his intention to gather 10-12 million U.S. dollars, to start a prize for «anyone who would knock off Putin».
March 13, 2014. In Donetsk, peaceful demonstrators who took to the streets to express their opposition to the «new Ukrainian authorities» and support the idea of the country’s federalization were attacked by non-lethal weapons and bats, wielded by right-wing militant groups who began to arrive to the city the night before from other regions of Ukraine. The clashes left one person dead and a large number of people wounded.
March 13, 2014. About 20 armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms broke into the office of UkrBusinessBank in the center of Kiev, disarmed the guards, and tried to enter the cash vault. After negotiations, the bank robbers surrendered. At the police station they called themselves «soldiers of Narnia», claiming to be part of the Maidan Self-Defense group. According to media reports, a few hours later they were released.
March 13, 2014. A detachment of the radical nationalists in camouflage uniforms and flak jackets with metal sticks and bats in hand, stormed the prosecutors’ office in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kiev. All prosecutors were forced out of the office rooms into the corridor, and then seven insurgents attacked one of the prosecutors, Valentine Bryantsev, beating him with bats. They also used a stun gun on him. The attackers demanded to close a pending Sviatoshynskyi District Court criminal case against one of their accomplices.
March 14, 2014. In the center of Kiev, a group of young men in masks with Pravyi Sektor armbands and machine guns attacked three local residents. About ten of these individuals shot off automatic rifle fire into the air, and they hit one of the tenants on the head with a metal bar.
Twelve people in camouflage entered the administrative building of the National Aviation University, introducing themselves as representatives of Pravyi Sektor. They demanded that the rector of the university, Professor N. Kulik, write a letter of resignation. The scientist was saved from punishment only by the police who rushed to the scene.
The «Heroes of Maidan» also demanded the resignation of the Director of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Professor A. Chaykovsky, and a group of employees of the Institute of National Remembrance (the latter ones were forced to write the history of «revolution» and glorify the «heroes of Maidan»).
The Director of the Department of Migration Services of Ukraine N. Naumenko, who refused to give Pravyi Sektor militants files with refugee cases, was beaten and stabbed in the face.
March 14, 2014. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption G. Moskal reported that the Mark Plaza jewelry store in Nikolaev was robbed by men with bats and a gun; in the village of Stoyantsy in the Kiev region, a militant group disarmed the local police service of their weapons and robbed a private house of 230 thousand dollars; in Odessa, armed men in camouflage uniforms stole an ATM in front of the police; in Uzhgorod, militants came to a former regional official, tortured his wife and son and took their money and valuables; in Vinnytsia region, individuals broke into the house of the head of Regional Development Strategy Foundation, tortured and killed him for a loot of $800. According to media reports, numerous armed groups generated by the Ukrainian Euromaidan movement were financially poor after the «hot phase» of the coup and resorted to robbery and racketeering as a source of revenue. The new «leadership» of the MIA of Ukraine turns a blind eye on this fact.
Praviy Sektor interrupted work of the Sberbank-Ukraine branch office in Vinnitsa. About ten militants barricaded the door of the bank, stacked tires in front of it, and allowed neither customers nor employees to enter. In the same way, they promised «to starve out» the other offices of Russian banks in the area. The only way to resolve the threat, according to media reports, was by paying them off; in many places in Western and Central Ukraine, stickers were seen reading «Protected by Pravyi Sektor». According to unconfirmed reports, one such sticker costs from 10 to 25 thousand dollars.
A group of unidentified men demanded owners of a restaurant in the Podgortsi, Kiev region, to transfer their business to the property of the people. The men called themselves members of the Maidan Self-Defense movement and threatened to destroy the property using «Molotov cocktails», demanding throughout the day that the owners transfer business ownership over to the people.
At the Kiev Borispol airport, over 30 Sevastopol sailors returning from long voyage became victims of looting and robbery committed by unknown persons who introduced themselves as Euromaidan militants. Turning to the police resulted in no action, and the airport management chose not to advertise this fact.
On the night of March 14, 2014 the building of Bessarabian market in Kiev was set ablaze. Experts detected that the «arson was committed using an incendiary mixture.» Eyewitnesses claim that immediately after the fire started, a few dozen Maidan Self-Defense militants in camouflage uniforms with batons exited the building. No one dared to stop the arsonists.
March 15, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants staged a massacre in Kharkov, during which two people were killed and four wounded. Journalists contend that the militants were led by Andrew Beletskyi, one of Pravyi Sektor’s leaders. No information about his arrest was reported. The voiced assumption was that he, along with other rebel leaders, was released by the police.
March 15, 2014. Representatives of law enforcement agencies arrived at an apartment in the Dnieper district of Kiev to detent the landlord for illegal possession of drugs. However, almost immediately another group of people, calling themselves members of the Maidan Self-Defense, arrived on the scene. They tied and immobilized police officers and the prosecutor, took their identification cards from them, and told the officers that their IDs would be passed on to the Assistant Minister of the Interior.
Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk called on the «powers in Kiev» to give their attention to the fact that looting has already begun in Ukraine, with Kravchuk’s own house being looted, too. «Since some marauder broke into my house, I sleep with a gun. While the authorities promise to restore order, I am forced to shoot to protect myself,» said the first president of Ukraine.
March 16, 2014. Russia announced an international search for the leader of the ultranationalist Pravyi Sektor organization D. Yarosh, who threatened to cut off the supply of Russian gas to the EU through Ukraine’s territory. «Russia is making money driving oil and gas to the West through our tube, so we will destroy the tube, depriving the enemy of a source of revenue,» the post on the official page of Pravyi Sektor on the VKontakte social network read. D. Yarosh also urged the Ukrainian government to order the formation of guerrilla and sabotage groups, which must take action in case armed forces of the Russian Federation enter Ukraine’s territory.
March 17, 2014. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption G. Moskal said that twenty unidentified Euromaidan activists armed with Kalashnikov machine guns and pistols seized the residential house belonging to Ukrkomplekt Plus company, in Kobtsy village in the Vasilkovskaja district of Kiev region. The house was under protection of the State Security Service (SBU) of the Vasilkovskaja police department. The SBU staff, and following them, the task force of Vasilkovskaja police department, arrived on call. But instead of protecting the property, the SBU and police forces went on to consume spirits stolen from the house, together with the criminals. In the morning, without taking any measures, the law enforcement officers left. The written appeal from the owners of the home to the Vasilkovskaja police department brought no response.
March 17, 2014. In Dnepropetrovsk, about 30 representatives of the Pravyi Sektor national-extremist organization in camouflage uniforms, armed with sticks and stun guns, approached some young people standing at a bus stop and twice shouted «Glory to Ukraine.» As the young people remained silent in response, the extremists have beaten them severely.
March 18, 2014. Members of Pravyi Sektor refused to surrender their weapons and join the National Guard of Ukraine. According to the organization’s leader D. Yarosh, there are about 10 thousand Pravyi Sektor members in Ukraine. The exact number of weapons they possess is unknown.
March 18, 2014. In Simferopol, shots from a sniper killed a Crimean self-defender and a Ukrainian soldier. Two more people, a Crimean self-defender and a Ukrainian soldier, were wounded.
March 18, 2014. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine passed the order to the Armed Forces of Ukraine stationed in the Crimea, allowing the use of weapons.
March 19, 2014. In Vinnitsa region, about 300 armed men, led by Pravyi Sektor activists, captured the Nemiroff Company distillery.
March 20, 2014 Deputy Head of the Committee of National Defense of Sevastopol S. Tutuev said that recently, 30 alleged ultra-right activists who planned provocation during Crimea people referendum were arrested in Sevastopol and deported to mainland Ukraine. «The discovery of several local neo-Nazis groups prevented the provocations. The night after the referendum, a signal from the Euromaidan leaders calling for the retreat from the peninsula was intercepted,» said S. Tutuev.
Inspection of Ukraine. Posing as «anti-corruption committee staff», they tried to seize folders with archive documents.
March 21, 2014. A house belonging to the leader of the movement Ukrainskyi Vybor (Ukrainian Choice) V. Medvedchuk was burned down.
March 21, 2014. During a stop at a station in Vinnitsa, men in Ukrainian Insurgent Army uniforms came aboard the passenger train cars of the No. 65 Moscow- Chisinau train and started «document inspection». At the same time, citizens who submitted Russian passports were forced to hand over their money and jewelry. Attempts by the victims to submit a report to the local police were in vain. The police refused to accept the reports.
March 22, 2014. Radical nationalists from the Pravyi Sektor extremist movement created a party under the same name on the basis of the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) political party. The members of the party included other nationalist groups who support the Pravyi Sektor movement. Its elected leader D. Yarosh was nominated as a candidate for the presidential elections in Ukraine.
March 23, 2014. The property and funds of 23 children’s health camps were handed over to Pravyi Sektor leader D. Yarosh for National Guard of Ukraine youth reserve training. The Pravyi Sektor youth wing consists of juvenile football ultras and supporters of Ukrainian nationalism. They were the backbone of the Euromaidan radical activists. According to Yarosh’s plans, militants from the nationalist youth wing, often referred to as «Yarosh Youth» («Yarosh Jugend»), will teach the basics of military affairs, subversive struggle, unarmed combat, and mine blasting in the children’s health camps. Daily youth recruitment is being carried out by the territorial command recruitment services of the National Guard.
March 23, 2014. In Kiev, the members of the so-called «11th self-defense sotnya» group made an attempt to seize a building that houses the Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC) and the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo. A group of 12 men, armed with metal rods (the leader had a pistol), demanded that the residents of the building immediately vacate it, as it was allegedly being confiscated «in revenge for Crimea», and henceforth it would accommodate the «Self-Defense Headquarters of the Pechersk District». All attempts of the head of the representative office and his deputy, who arrived at the place of the conflict, to make the «self-defense forces» to listen to reason (the building does not belong to Russia, it is just leased from the Ukrainian authorities) failed. Moreover, the attackers took keys from the guards and hijacked from the courtyard of the RCSC a car which belonged to Rossotrudnichestvo.
March 24, 2014. In Zaporizhia several dozen militants of the so-called «Maidan SelfDefense Forces», armed with sticks, stones and iron bars, attacked participants of the «Friendship Rally from Melitopol to Zaporizhia». Many people were injured, and cars were damaged.
March 25, 2014. Media reported on the plans of the Security Service of Ukraine to attract the private military company Greystone Limited (an analog, and possibly an affiliate of the American private army Blackwater, whose members are involved in systematic violations of human rights in various hot spots in the world) to work on the suppression of dissent in the Russian-speaking eastern regions of the country. According to the media, the initiative comes from the «oligarchs» Igor Kolomoyskyi and Sergiy Taruta, who were appointed as governors of Dnepropetrovsk and Donetsk Oblasts by the «Kiev authorities». It is significant that the practice of attracting foreign private military companies violates the Ukrainian law that prohibits foreign citizens to take part in the work of Ukrainian private security companies.
March 26, 2014. People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, representative of the Communist Party Spiridon Kilinkarov demanded that the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov order military formations to vacate the office of the Communist Party. These detachments were impeding the pre-election work of party members in the current presidential campaign. Earlier, the Communist Party faction stated that they would not participate in voting for any draft legislation until their office in Kiev was returned to the party.
March 26, 2014. Khreschatyk Street, Kiev. Activists of the social movement «Avtodozor» and the sotnya of the «Maidan Self-Defense» forces picketed the offices of banks with Russian stock (VTB, Alpha, Sberbank, Prominvest), demanding the closing and nationalization of all their branch offices in Ukraine. The building of Sberbank was seized and plundered.
March 27, 2014. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted, in the first reading, the draft law «On restoring confidence in the judicial system of Ukraine», proposed by the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, which implies the introduction of lustration of the judiciary in the country. Another draft law, which deals with the lustration of persons holding public positions, was proposed to the Parliament by Svoboda on March 26, 2014. Lustration requirements were announced in February during the Maidan protests. These were later repeated in the Verkhovna Rada by Vitali Klitschko, the leader of the Udar Party, who called for the opening of criminal proceedings against members of the previous government. According to media reports, the lustration list will contain names of 145 people, including the President Viktor Yanukovych and his family.
March 31, 2014. The Department of Health in Kiev reported that the number of victims of the riots in the capital of Ukraine accounted for 1,608 people, 129 of them still in hospitals, 103 were killed.
Article 2, p. 7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.
«No State shall organize, assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive, terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent overthrow of the regime of another State, or interfere in civil strife in another State».
November 26, 2013. The speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Loreta Grauzhinene, accompanied by two vice-chairmen of the Seimas, without any invitation of the authorities of Ukraine, arrived in Kiev and spoke at protest rallies on the European Square and Independence Square, during which she urged the protestors not to drop their demands to sign the association agreement with the EU.
December 1, 2013. Transmitting the message of the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz (Germany), the deputy of the Polish Sejm Jarosław Kaczyński announced from the stage of the Maidan that the European Union does not doubt the imminent accession of Ukraine to the EU.
December 4, 2013. The German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle visited the camp of the protesters on the Maidan and met the opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko (Udar Party) and Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Batkivshchyna — the All-Ukrainian Union «Fatherland» Party).
December 7, 2013. The Member of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (Poland) announced from the rostrum of the Maidan that Russia was allegedly interfering with the «European choice» of the Ukrainian people. Also, the MEP urged the Ukrainian government to stop the «provocations» and release the arrested protesters from prisons, as well as to stop using force against the demonstrators.
The Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok (Germany), attending the Maidan protests, asked the sovereign authorities of Ukraine to change their decision and release Yulia Tymoshenko from jail.
December 6, 7, 11, 2013, February 6-8, March 3-5, 2014. The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland visited the Maidan. Whenever she came, she edified opposition leaders, exercising public gestures like the distribution of cookies among the activists, which was intended to show that Washington was supporting the lawlessness that reigned in Ukraine. According to numerous testimonies, V. Nuland participated in the selection of the current «government» of Ukraine; this is proven by a recording of her telephone conversation, held in early February 2014 with the U.S. ambassador in Kiev Geoffrey Payette that appeared on the Internet.
According to some media and independent analysts, Euromaidan was directed by the U.S. State Department through government-controlled NGOs and private foundations. The site of Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity (USA) published a study of the American political scientist Steve Wiseman, who provides specific information in this regard. According to him, the planning of events in Ukraine started in advance. A group of several dozen Ukrainian opposition organizations was created, which received funds from the Soros Foundation and the Pact Inc organization, working for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Steve Wiseman cites a number of examples of how protests against the government of Viktor Yanukovych were held, using American technologies and new developments in propaganda and mass communications. The publication claims that the main coordinators in the U.S. State Department for the organization of the coup in Kiev were the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador in Kiev Jeffrey Payette.
The study of Steve Wiseman contains information referring to specific financial indicators. Thus, it is reported that in August 2013, Jeffrey Payette gave grants worth about 50,000 USD to support the newly created opposition Ukrainian Internet TV channel Hromadske.TV. Its team, including the chief editor Roman Skrypin, was recruited from among the media, previously operating on the funds supplied by the USA (Radio Svoboda etc.). Under the patronage of Jeffrey Payette, this channel was to receive about 30,000 USD from the Soros Foundation and about 95,000 USD from the Netherlands Embassy in Kiev.
The newly created channel, according to the American political scientist, began to broadcast one day after the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych suspended the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU on November 21, 2013 until analysis of its economic consegnences is finalized.
December 10, 2013. The head of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium) said during a press conference in Strasbourg that members of his political group intend to be constantly present on Independence Square in Kiev to support the «pro- European demonstration».
December 15, 2013. Two U.S. senators, Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican John McCain, made speeches at the «Euromaidan» in Kiev. Both American politicians stated that the U.S. supported the desire of the participants of Euromaidan to join Europe.
January 25, 2014. A delegation of the Lithuanian Seimas, headed by the ViceSpeaker Petras Austrevicius, spoke from the rostrum of the Euromaidan in Kiev.
January 26, 2014. Member of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (Poland) said in an interview with Ukrainian Week: «The President has lost legitimacy.» Earlier, in his speech at the Maidan on February 22, 2014, he also condemned the «illegitimate» use of force by the government of Ukraine.
January 29, 2014. At a meeting with the head of the opposition party Udar V. Klitschko, held at the Opera Hotel, the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok (Germany) openly sided with the opposition, calling on President Viktor Yanukovych to fulfill the demands of the opposition.
February 21, 2014. The European Union actually gave up its obligations as a guarantor of the execution of the agreement between the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the Ukrainian opposition leaders, signed on February 21, 2014, under the mediation of foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland. Thus, the EU supported and accepted the illegitimate rise of the opposition to power in Kiev, and directly contributed to the attack against the constitutional order in Ukraine.
February 22, 2014. Shortly after the coup in Kiev, the U.S. announced the removal of the legitimately elected President of Ukraine as a «fait accompli» and recognized the «legitimacy» of the self-proclaimed authorities, headed by Oleksandr Turchinov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk. On March 4, 2014, the Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev to pay his respects and show his support.
March 21, 2014. The political agreement on the EU-Ukraine Association was signed as part of the European Council meeting. On behalf of Ukraine, the document was signed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, appointed as the Prime Minister by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. Thus, the EU recognized de jure the current illegitimate government of Ukraine and officially confirmed their willingness to work with it, bypassing the legally elected Viktor Yanukovych, who under the Constitution of Ukraine is still the official head of the state.
March 30, 2014. Residents of Kiev reported that the office building in the city center, which houses one of the headquarters of the «Pravyi Sektor», was regularly approached by cars with diplomatic plates and people unloaded massive bags and shrouded objects.
Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force, which is no more than absolutely necessary.
Article 3. No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The evidence, obtained within the framework of the project on «Public investigations of the violations of human rights in Ukraine», implemented by the NGO «Fund to research problems of democracy», makes it possible to clearly identify, among the participants of the Euromaidan, the presence of large and permanent groups of militants, numbering up to several thousand people, who organized the attacks, shootings, beatings and killings of law enforcement officers, dissidents (protesters whose political positions did not coincide with that of the Maidan), seizures of public buildings, etc.
This group was characterized by a high level of provisions with firearms and cold arms, various special gear (grenades, gas, etc.) and radio communication equipment, personal protective equipment (military and official body armor and helmets, shields, knee and elbow pads, masks, respirators, gas masks, etc.), mastery of specific tactical methods of group actions, shift work in the organization of fresh reserves, organization of small-scale production of improvised explosive devices and training of other activists, etc.
Witnesses also reported the high skills of the protesters, who knew how to use irritant poisonous substances, including gases of unknown origin, as well as smoke from burning tires, and smoke bombs. The respirators and equipment of law enforcement officers did not prove to be of much help against these. According to witnesses, this group was the only one constantly present and most actively operating at the Euromaidan. Witnesses also noted the high level of psychosocial and organizational support this group received from the other participants of Euromaidan: justification of their violent and illegal acts, involvement in the manufacturing of «Molotov cocktails» and improvised explosive devices, dismantling of bridges and pavements to obtain stones, delivery of stones to be used against the police, participation in provocative actions, setting fire to the tires, hiding the militants in the total mass of protesters to help them escape from law enforcement agencies, participation in the construction of barricades, etc.
All interviewed witnesses point out the good equipment and training of the militants. It is noted that at the beginning of these events, homemade protective equipment was used — sports and construction equipment, bicycle helmets, arm and shin guards. Witnesses noted the characteristics of the militants’ homemade weapons — sticks, cudgels, axes that were upgraded to increase their striking effect by means of welding iron spikes onto them, using pieces of circular saws, domestic axes with larger helves, etc. Widely used were traumatic weapons, air rifles with optical sights, converted pistols, etc. «Molotov cocktails» were produced at a sufficiently high level. Special chemical components were added, which by their properties were almost like napalm.
After the start of the active phase of operations, the militants obtained regular army or special equipment and personal protective equipment (flak jackets, helmets, hard hats).
Andrey, an officer of the Berkut Special Police Force, having received gunshot wound, emphasizes the militants’ coordination of actions: «As I understand it, there were commanders. We observed some people who were walking and showing them some signals; they were coordinating things. There were many such cases. Visible were people wearing red bright clothing, ski-type costumes.
Violations of the right for freedom of thought and belief, including political beliefs, and violations of the right to express them. Restrictions on freedom of the media and intimidation of dissidents.
Article 10. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.
Article 9. The Parties undertake to recognize that the right to freedom of expression of every person belonging to a national minority includes freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas in the minority language, without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers. The Parties shall ensure, within the framework of their legal systems, that persons belonging to a national minority are not discriminated against in their access to the media.
November 27, 2013. In Kiev, the ultra-radical Pravyi Sektor activists prevented leftist activists to enter the «Euromaidan» with their slogans, snatching posters from their hands and forcing them to leave the meeting.
November 28, 2013. About thirty Pravyi Sektor activists, using tear gas canisters, attacked a women’s rights campaign, being held in Kiev, under the slogans «Ukrainian women — European salaries», «Europe — this means paid maternity leave», etc. As a consequence, there were three people injured (two young men and one girl).
December 4, 2013. In Kiev, a few dozen right-wing radicals, supporters of the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, attacked the Levin brothers (known for their leftist views), activists of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU), that were handing out campaign materials on Khreshchatyk Street. The attackers called the unionists «hairy mongrels». Anatoly Levin’s ribs were broken, Alexander Levin got a broken nose and a dissected cheekbone, Denis Levin suffered from the use of tear gas. In addition, KVPU’s property was destroyed; the attackers slashed the tent, broke the sound-amplifying equipment and stole the generator.
December 22, 2013. Activists of All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, with the use of physical force, expelled journalist Viktor Gatsenko from the captured building of Kiev Administration, obscenely insulting and threatening him with death because of his political views. There were identified, among those who had expelled the journalist, such people as the deputy head of the Kiev branch of AUU Svoboda, Ruslan Andreiko, and one of the leaders of the party’s student organization, Artem Ruban.
February 18, 2014. In Kiev, Vyacheslav Veremiy, a Vesti newspaper journalist, was killed. Masked men with bats and guns attacked Vyacheslav Veremiy and his colleague, an IT engineer Alexey Lymarenko, as they were returning home by taxi. The two men and taxi driver were severely beaten. A. Lymarenko had his face disfigured and V. Veremiy was wounded to the chest, an injury from which he soon died.
The Union of Journalists announced that such media worker rights violations during the «revolutionary events» were unprecedented. One journalist (V. Veremiy) was killed and 167 were injured, dozens suffered from all sorts of attacks. The presence of a press certificate or the inscription «press» on the clothing did not save reporters from attacks and destruction of their professional equipment.
February 20, 2014. P. Prudyakov PhD, Professor of Slavic Studies Department at the Taras Shevchenko National University, gave an interview to one of the Russian TV channels. Later, he was invited to write a letter of resignation from the university at University Rector’s initiative. P Prudyakov refused. He was then forced to do it, presented with threats of dismissal under the «gross violation of labor discipline» article. Philology students were urged to write accusatory letters (students flatly refused to do so). P. Prudyakov was forced to resign from the university at an extraordinary meeting of the department, although this scientist is one of the world’s leading experts in his field.
February 27, 2014. Director of the Ukrainian News Agency GolosUA, Oksana Vaschenko asked the existing power structures of Ukraine to prevent the possible seizure of the agency office and to protect journalists from attacks by extremist organizations. However, in early March 2014, the Ukrainian News Agency GolosUA office was captured by Pravyi Sektor militants. Most of the staff was forced to go on leave with no pay, the remaining staff members moved to another place, keeping the location of these premises secret. The news agency leadership was accused by the ultra-nationalists of «misrepresentation of the people’s revolution», having had regular threats directed at them.
February 28, 2014. The Ukrainian televison anchorperson V. Syumar was appointed deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. She immediately initiated her activities in her new position by putting crass pressure on Ukraine’s state television channels. In essence, she imposed censorship. In particular, the managment of UTR (the second state channel, which handles foreign broadcasting) was informed of the necessity of switching to a «counterpropaganda» mode in the form of an ultimatum. V. Sumar emphasized that the «television station does not carry out sufficient counterpropaganda against Russia.» As a result, UTR was reoriented towards English language broadcasts involving anti-Russian speakers. Similar processes are characteristic to the editorship of Ukraine’s national radio.
March 5, 2014. In the center of Kiev on Maidan, radicals seized reporter S. Rulev of the Navigator Information Agency, who had come to the square to shoot footage of an anti-war demonstration, and dragged him into a tent set up opposite the Trade Unions House. The journalist was severely beaten and his documents, telephone, and camera were taken. The reason for the assault was that S. Rulev had prepared reportage on Berkut employees.
March 6, 2014. In Donetsk, civic activist Pavel Gubarev, who was elected people’s governor of the Donetsk region at a popular assembly on 1 March 2014 and stood for not recognizing the new authorities in Kiev that had come to power as a result of the coup d’état and for the holding of a referendum on the future of Donbas, was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine and taken to Kiev.
March 10, 2014. O. Lyashko, people’s deputy in the Verkhovna Rada and leader of the Ukrainian Radical Party, along with a group of accomplices, beat up Arsen Klinchaev, member of the Lugansk regional council and leader of the social organization «Young Guard.» He had been campaigning for the federalization of Ukraine and recognition of Russian as an official state language. The beating occurred in the office of V. Guslavsky, the chief of the General Directorate of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Lugansk Region, and with his full connivance. Threatened with reprisals, Klinchaev was forbidden to participate in pro-Russian demonstrations or to express his opinions and position. The same day, Klinchaev was arrested by Ukrainian Security Service forces and sent to Kiev.
March 11, 2014. The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine was taken over by the «new authorities» and providers were required to cease retransmission of the Russian television channels Vesti, Russia 24, Channel One, RTR Planet, and NTV World by seven p.m.
March 11, 2014. A court in Kiev placed the former head of the Kharkov Regional State Administration, M. Dobkin, under house arrest. In late February 2014 M. Dobkin resigned in order to take part in the May 25th presidential elections. As the region’s governor, he had harshly criticized Euromaidan supporters.
March 11, 2014. According to reports sent from Russian-speaking inhabitants of Ukraine, Russian television channels were disabled «in all the cities of the country.» Similar complaints were received from the city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk region, where the local provider Interset had cut off the NTV and RTR channels, and from Kharkov, where the Channel One, Russia, and NTV channels were disabled. However, as noted by researchers and sociologists, up to 90 percent of airtime consists of broadcasts viewed in Russian.
March 13, 2014. A Kiev court placed the Mayor of Kharkov, G. Kernes, under house arrest. He had repeatedly expressed his disagreement with the political events taking place in Ukraine, including those connected to the forceful seizure of power by Euromaidan supporters.
March 14, 2014. Ukraine’s largest social-political weekly, «2000,» ceased to exist in paper format as a result of the harsh political pressure and censorship policies of the «new authorities.» The editorship does not rule out the total cessation of its work in relation to threat of seizure of its Kiev office. For many years, the paper has published materials critical of the politicians who currently find themselves in power today. Immediately after the change of government took place in the country, the Ukraine Press, the largest printing office in Kiev, announced that it would review its contract with the editorship of «2000» unilaterally. The rates were artificially inflated to several times higher than market rates and those that had been negotiated in the previous contract.
March 15, 2014. The fighters from the so-called Maidan Self-Defense Force blockaded the building of the Ukrainian television channel «Inter» and demanded its management be replaced because of the channel’s information policy. Threats continued to be made against the television channel’s management, its journalists, and its anchorpersons (via the mass media, calls and social websites) even after changes were made to its editorial policy. Pressure on Inter’s leadership increased especially after the arrest of its primary shareholder, D. Firtash.
March 17, 2014. A. Davidchenko, one of the leaders of the protest movement in Odessa and the leader of People’s Alternative, was detained by unknown persons. Unidentified people in black uniforms lacking any insignia grabbed the social activist, threw him into an automobile with transit numbers and drove off with him towards an unknown location. A. Davidchenko’s comrades think that SBU employees carried out the operation and that the leader of People’s Alternative was taken to Kiev.
March 18, 2014. A group of Verkhovna Rada deputies from the Svoboda Party led by I. Miroshnychenko and the famous actor B. Beniuk (people’s artist of Ukraine) came to the office of the First National Channel of Ukraine (NTU) and forced its acting president, O. Panteleymonov, to resign.
O. Panteleymonov, later commenting on the incident on air, stated that the deputies had a «long and officious conversation» with him. Footage posted on the Internet bear witness to the fact that the MPs beat O. Panteleymonov on the face and head. They blamed him because the television channel that he heads aired the appeal of the President of Russia to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Crimea — and that was «not patriotic.» They called O. Panteleymonov a «moskal’» and constantly reminded him that NTU was «disseminating lies» about the events on Maidan.
March 19, 2014. Alexey Khudyakov, a journalist from the online publication Segodnya.ru, was abducted. He had been in Donetsk since February 28th carrying out the work assigned to him by the editors. While on his trip, he prepared and published five articles and news items for them that were critical of the radical proNazi groups and «the new government» in Kiev.
A tinted van pulled up next to A. Khudyakov and without any explanation people in masks jumped out and then shoved him into the automobile. He was then handcuffed and a black sack was placed on his head. Next, he was searched and taken to the woods. One of the kidnappers was an SBU employee, but he refused to produce any identification. After this they began trying to intimidate A. Khudyakov, including with direct threats to his life and the life of his relatives (he was forced to list their names and surnames and indicate their phone numbers). The kidnappers impressed upon him that he «was misjudging the situation.» Threatening him, they forced him to read an unknown text in Ukrainian into a video camera, as well as sign documents stating he was prepared to work for the Security Service of Ukraine. The malefactors threatened violence to him and his relatives should the fact of his abduction be made known. Thereafter, his Ukrainian SIM cards and telephone memory cards were confiscated, and the photo and video materials and telephone book in his phone were destroyed. The journalist was driven to a border post on the border with Russia and handed over to the border guards to be deported.
March 20, 2014. Russian journalists — A. Buzoladze, S. Yeliseyeva, S. Zavidova, and M. Isakova — from the Russia-1 TV channel were detained in Donetsk. The Russians’ documents were seized and they were taken to the checkpoint «Vasilievka,» where they were held for several hours without explanation and then expelled from Ukrainian territory.
March 20, 2014. In Odessa, representatives of the so-called Maidan Self-Defense Force demanded that the director general of the regional television channel, M. Aksenova, write a resignation letter, threatening physical violence.
Lyashko, had organized a hunt for members of the Lugansk Guard and was persecuting activists and members of their families.
March 20, 2014. Euromaidan activists besieged the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Odessa and proceeded to carry on a conversation in raised voices with the regional prosecutor. At times, threats were directed at him. The main demand of the activists was to «deal toughly» and «take measures» in relation to the camp and leaders of the social movement Kulikovo Pole (Kulikovo field), which advocates the recognition of Russian as a state language, as well as constitutional reforms and the federalization of Ukraine.
March 22, 2014. The Security Service of Ukraine detained one of the leaders of the protest movement, the leader of the so-called People’s Militia of Donbas, M. Chumachenko, under suspicion of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
March 23, 2014. The Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Transcarpathian region opened criminal proceedings for «infringement upon the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine» and disseminating «separatist appeals» on the Internet. A report by an SBU employee about the publication by unknown persons of messages containing appeals in the name of the Ruthenians (Rusyns) of the Transcarpathians to the President of the Russian Federation, V.V. Putin, to recognize and create a republic called «Transcarpathian Ruthenia» served as the basis for this.
March 26, 2014. The Kiev district court made the decision to suspend broadcasting of five Russian television channels in Ukraine: Vesti, Russia 24, Channel One, RTR Planet, and NTV World. This was done at the request of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine (with the goal of «ensuring the information security of the country»).
March 26, 2014. In Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, and Donetsk, supporters of the Pravyi Sektor beat up citizens who were wearing the Georgievskaya Lenta (St. George’s Ribbon) on their chests (a symbolic token commemorating the Victory Day and the Great Patriotic War).
March 26, 2014. In Kirovograd region, A. Tkalenko, the chief physician at the Ulyanovsk Central Regional Hospital, was attacked by representatives of the local People’s Rada (People’s Council) and members of the Svoboda (Freedom) Party. They attempted to beat him up right in his own office. The doctor’s only «sin» was his political convictions (he stood in the ranks of the Party of Regions and had been appointed by the previous administration).
March 30, 2014. Euromaidan fighters attacked the Lugansk Guard activists’ tent in Lugansk city. The opponents of the «new Kiev government» were beaten with bats and their tents were slashed and torn down. Some of the victims from among the tent camp activists were hospitalized with significant head and limb injuries. It is indicative that police patrols located near the scene of the incident preferred not to interfere.
Article 20. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.
Article 4. The Parties undertake to guarantee to persons belonging to national minorities the right of equality before the law and of equal protection of the law. In this respect, any discrimination based on belonging to a national minority shall be prohibited.
Article 6. The Parties shall encourage a spirit of tolerance and intercultural dialogue and take effective measures to promote mutual respect and understanding and co-operation among all persons living on their territory, irrespective of those persons’ ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity, in particular in the fields of education, culture and the media.
Article 10. The Parties undertake to recognize that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to use freely and without interference his or her minority language, in private and in public, orally and in writing. Each State Party undertakes not to sponsor, defend or support racial discrimination by any persons or organizations.
December 22, 2013. The monument to Holocaust victims in Nikolaev was defiled. An inverted Satanic cross was painted on the memorial plaque in indelible black spray.
In the early hours of January 1, 2014. A Nativity play was performed on the Euromaidan stage; during it, a People’s Deputy from the Svoboda party, Bohdan Beniuk, performed the role of a «yid.» His monologue updated traditional anti- Semitic stereotypes in the context of modern Ukrainian realities: «Yesterday I made some deals, today I became a deputy,» «I lend out a bit of money and collect interest from it,» «East and west—everything is mine, our people are everywhere,» and so on.
January 1, 2014. In downtown Kiev, a demonstration commemorated the 105th anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera, an ideologue and founder of Ukrainian ultranationalism, and a collaborator with the German Nazis. The torchlight procession, which was led by the Svoboda party, attracted around 10,000 participants.
January 11, 2014. In Kiev extremists attacked H. Wertheimer, a 26-year-old Israeli citizen who is a teacher in the Rosenberg synagogue in Kiev.
January 17, 2014. After leaving a synagogue, Dov Ber Glickman, a 33-year-old Russian citizen and congregant studying at the yeshiva (a religious educational institution), was beaten up. His attackers hit him with their hands and feet, and it appeared that the attackers had blades installed in the toes of their shoes, which left deep wounds.
February 22, 2014, V. Yavorivsky, a member of the Batkivshchyna faction, introduced in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada draft legislation proposing that standards of accountability for expressing personal opinions on Fascist crimes be abolished.
February 23, 2014. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada declared the repeal of the Law on the Principles of the State Language Policy of July 3, 2012, which granted the status of regional language to Russian and other languages of national minorities. «Acting Ukrainian president» Oleksandr Turchynov said that he would not sign this decision by the Rada, but the parliament approved the draft legislation while it still remains unsigned.
February 24, 2014. In the city of Brody in Lviv province, the monument to the Russian military leader M. I. Kutuzov was torn down.
March 5, 2014. Oleksandr Muzychko (Sashko Bily), the coordinator of the Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine, recorded and broadcast on the Internet a video address in which he called on people to «cleanse Ukraine and Crimea» of its Russianspeaking inhabitants.
March 8, 2014. In the city of Chigiri in Cherkassy region, unidentified culprits used Molotov cocktails to burn a Jewish commemorative plaque erected in 2012 next to a cemetery in which the graves of Hasidic elders were found.
Hungarian I. Gaidosh. In 2011, the Svoboda party claimed responsibility for a similar action defiling a Hungarian memorial in the Verecke Pass.
March 11, 2014. An ad hoc task force in Kiev began working on writing the draft legislation On the Development and Use of Languages in Ukraine. Ruslan Koshulinsky (Svoboda party), deputy speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, was named the committee chairman. Members include Vladimir Yavorivsky (Batkivshchyna party), Maria Matios (Udar party) and Irina Farion (Svoboda party). Deputies from the Party of Regions are systematically excluded from this committee.
Farion introduced draft legislation calling for a criminal penalty (7 years) for speaking Russian in government offices and public places in Ukraine.
March 13, 2014. Rabbi H. Cohen was attacked by neo-Nazis in Kiev. He was beaten and stabbed twice.
March 14, 2014. In the Ukrainian capital, a group of neo-Nazis followed a Hasidic husband and wife (citizens of Israel and the United States) who were on their way to synagogue. At the last minute, the couple managed to jump into a taxi, which the assailants hurled stones at.
March 15, 2014. Ukrainian border guards on Transnistrian territory on the Moldova-Ukraine border forbade passage to men from Russia.
March 16, 2014. In Dnepropetrovsk, around 30 Ukrainian radical nationalists brutally beat a group of local teenagers because they did not answer the nationalists’ greeting «Glory to Ukraine!» Reports of such Banderist patrols in Dnepropetrovsk have become commonplace. The city has been flooded with armed youths, who patrol the streets and address passers-by with the Banderist salute «Glory to Ukraine!» Those who answer incorrectly or keep silent are beaten. The crimes frequently occur in front of the police, but the «law enforcement» officials try not to get involved.
March 17, 2014. During an official briefing, Y Perebiynis, head of the Information Policy Department of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Russians are not an indigenous people of Ukraine and therefore do not have the right to selfdetermination on Ukrainian territory. He also said that in Ukraine there are only four indigenous peoples: Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, Crimean Karaites and Krymchaks.
March 17, 2014. Dmitry N. from Kharkiv witnessed a beating by nationalist radicals of a young woman on the street for speaking Russian on her mobile phone.
March 20, 2014. A group of Ukrainian nationalist radicals attacked Hungarian schoolchildren who were visiting Transcarpathia from Miskolc, Hungary.
March 20, 2014. Armed extremists stormed a meeting of the Hungarian community council in the city of Beregovo in Transcarpathian province and beat its participants.
Beginning on March 20, 2014, Russians living in Ukraine started to complain en masse to the Consulate General of Russia in Kharkiv about pressure from the Ukrainian authorities, who are harshly demanding that they formalize their renunciation of Russian citizenship or leave Ukraine.
March 20, 2014. I. Balut, who was designated governor of Kharkiv Province, said that in the previous two weeks, Ukrainian border guards on the Russia-Ukraine border in Kharkiv had prevented 120-130 Russian citizens daily from entering Ukrainian territory.
March 23, 2014. Dmitry E. said that in his workplace (Kharkiv-Sortirovochny locomotive depot 10), during a routine staff meeting the management banned any criticism of the «new government.» Workers who defy this will be dismissed.
March 24, 2014. A recording appeared on the Internet of a telephone conversation between former Ukrainian prime minister and current presidential candidate Y Tymoshenko and N. Shufrich, the former deputy secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine. In it, Tymoshenko makes a series of Russophobic comments and statements.
March 24, 2014. H. Koschyk, German commissioner for matters related to ethnic German re-settlers and national minorities, said that people in Germany are concerned about the situation of ethnic Germans and other national minorities in Ukraine. He said that the central government in Kiev needs to clearly demonstrate its readiness to protect their rights.
On the night of February 22-23, 2014. Representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate, which is unrecognized in the Orthodox world, threatened the forcible seizure of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. On the evening of the 22nd, on Maidan, its representatives propagated false information about the «threat» of the removal of the church valuables of Kiev Pechersk Lavra from Ukraine. Starting from the stage at Maidan and moving on to social networking sites, provocative appeals began to be circulated: Guys, everybody to Lavra now! The monks are taking the icons out of Lavra to Russia! Never let them do that; never allow such a thing! We must intervene! As a result, a group of representatives from the so-called Maidan SelfDefense Force went to Lavra.
Approximately 300 armed people went up to the Lavra walls and seized control of all the ancient monastery’s entrances and exits, deciding at their own discretion who should be permitted in or out.
In the end the situation was stabilized, but the anxious mood did not abate for a long time.
February 24, 2014. Representatives of the Maidan Self-Defense Force took Pochaev Lavra under their control in order to, according to the official announcement of the Ternopil authorities, «prevent the removal of relics and valuables.» In fact, this was an illegal blockade of the entrances to a monastic cloister.
Moscow Patriarchate (UPC), was transferred into the ownership of representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate.
The transfer was carried out on the basis of a court decision made under pressure of demonstrations primarily from the nationalist party Svoboda.
In 2006, the church abbot had given the building to representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate secretly, without the knowledge of church management of his own church community. After lengthy proceedings in April of 2013, the court decided in favor of the UPC of the Moscow Patriarchate. However the schismatics appealed the legal decision just before «Svoboda» members provoked clashes with UPC priests and parishioners. As a result, the church was shut down for renovation by the authorities, but after the Euromaidan victory in February 2014, the schismatics won their appeal.
February 25, 2014. Information surfaced about preparations being made for an attempt to capture the Pochaev Lavra spiritual center. In order to prevent this provocative act, numerous Orthodox believers started gathering at Lavra, blocked the main entrance to the monastery, and created a solid living wall in front of the Holy Gates of the cloister. These conditions made it impossible for the group of nationalist radicals and schismatics arriving at Lavra in six buses to carry out their original plan.
February 25, 2014. A group of aggressively disposed people accompanied by journalists from the 1 + 1 television channel entered the administrative building of the Sumy Eparchy. The leaders of the group were N. F. Karpenko (Kiev Patriarchate deacon), Professor I. P. Mozgovoy, and a UPC KP «priest» in civilian clothes. N. F. Karpenko categorically demanded that Archbishop Eulogius, archbishop of Sumy and Akhtyrka, conduct joint services with the schismatic Archbishop Methodius in the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Sumy. He then blamed the priesthood of the canonical Church of unwillingness to pray for those killed at Maidan.
March 2, 2014. Parishioners found pamphlets of a provocative nature on the windows and doors of thirteen Orthodox churches in Kovel in the Volyn district.
They were titled: Get out, moskal! They contained crude insults directed at the UOC priests in addition to their photographs.
March 25, 2014. In Severodonetsk in the Lugansk region, archpriest of the UPC of the Moscow Patriarchate and doctor of theology, Father Oleg Trofimov, was subjected to persecution and threats on the part of the authorities and activists of the local Euromaidan because of the active position he had taken in civil society and his antifascist convictions. He was transferred to serve in a distant rural parish forty kilometers from home. The investigations being imposed on the archpriest in relation to questions surrounding the appropriateness of his official behaviour are based on groundless accusations of the misuse of funds donated by parishioners, etc. Pravyi Sektor has placed Father Oleg on their black list. The mass media, which is controlled by extremists, has been harassing the priest. His home address and telephone number are constantly being published on the Internet accompanied by calls to violence.
In late March a prominent activist from one of the unrecognized Orthodox confessions in Ukraine, the so-called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (Cherkassy Eparchy), the abbot Alexander Shirokov, received a threatening letter in the name of the National Socialist Workers Party of Ukraine. In particular, it was stated in it that if A. Shirokov did not cease his «pro-Moscow and anti-constitutional enemy agitation» on internet social networking sites, the same party would change its «heretofore still tolerant and polite» relationship to him. «We will have to start using more radical methods of a physical or annihilating nature against you or your relatives, including those located in Russia,» the letter said.
The facts set forth above clearly demonstrate that under the influence of extremists from ultranationalistic and neo-Nazi forces, and with the active multidimensional support of the USA and the European Union and its members, the protests in Ukraine which bore an initially peaceful character rapidly escalated into a coercive rebellion and, in the end, the forceful seizure of power and an unconstitutional coup d’etat. These dramatic events were accompanied by widespread and gross violations of human rights and freedoms on the part of the self-proclaimed government and its supporters. As a result, manifestations of extremist, ultranationalist, and neo-Nazistic sentiments, religious intolerance, xenophobia, blatant blackmail, threats, pressure placed by the Maidan leaders on their opponents, «purges» and arrests amongst them, repression, physical violence, and sometimes plain criminal lawlessness have become commonplace in Ukraine.
In all of Ukraine’s regions, but especially in the southeastern part of the country. Ukrainian radical nationalists, instructed by the de facto authorities in Kiev and their external patrons, are ramping up the pressure on Russian-speaking citizens who do not want to lose the centuries-old ties that bind them to Russia and Russian culture. Moreover, affairs are being conducted Maidan-style — through the use of threats, intimidation, physical violence, and heinous attempts to obliterate Russian culture and identity among the inhabitants of these regions of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, all of the gross human rights violations and violations of the principle of the rule of law that have been committed and are still being committed remain unpunished. Moreover, the bandits from Euromaidan who, weapons in hand, committed atrocities against the legal authorities and citizens have been amnestied by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and declared national heroes. We are convinced that if the lawlessness in Ukraine continues, the situation may erupt into a serious threat to regional peace and security and lead to further escalation of international and interethnic contradicions and conflicts in Ukraine and Europe in general.
They (banderists — Ed.) were not afraid, as we now should not be afraid. They slung their guns from their necks and went into the woods. They fought against the moskals, the Germans, and struggled with kikes and mischief-makers, who wanted to take the Ukrainian lands from us.
On November 21, 2013 in Kiev, protests under the «Euromaidan» title began. They were organized by a number of opposition parties that disagreed with the decision of the Government of Ukraine to suspend the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
 Since November 21, 2013, the project is conducting surveys of witnesses and monitoring human rights violations in Ukraine. As of March 20, more than 120 witnesses have been interviewed, including 50 members and supporters of the «Euromaidan», 30 police officers and other law-enforcement agencies of Ukraine, as well as politicians and people’s deputies, journalists, experts and NGO representatives. The survey of the Euromaidan supporters was conducted primarily at the Maidan and in the seized buildings, in the period from November 21, 2013 to February 22, 2014.
A number of law enforcement officers were poisoned by gases of unknown origin and required hospital treatment.
 Participants of Euromaidan could very effectively determine the wind direction, and thus they placed sources of gas and smoke in the most advantageous positions, in order to cause the maximum damage.
 A soldiers’ formation (internal forces and special police units of Ukraine).
 A finger was broken and a tendon was ruptured, January 19, 2014, Grushevsky Street.
 Moskal’ — derived from Moscow, it is a humiliating and insulting labeling of Muscovites in particular and all Russians in general, widely used in Ukraine.

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