Ukraine paramilitaries exchange gunfire with Zakarpattia local police

An armed conflict erupted on July 11 between the paramilitary forces of the Praviy Sektor (Right Sector) nationalists and security forces employed by Mykhaylo Lanyo, an MP and businessman in the town of Mukacheve in the Zakarpattia region, located just 30 km from border with Hungary. Two Right Sector fighters were killed and four injured as a result of the gunfight, a spokesman told a Kyiv press conference on July 12. He insisted the paramilitary group didn’t fire the first shots when four jeeps containing 21 fighters – armed with automatic rifles – approached a sports complex to confront Lanyo, where the gunfight erupted involving local police. At least three civilians and four local police officers were wounded by the paramilitaries, reported the Interior Ministry on July 11. Three police cars were damaged and a gas station was set ablaze as well.

The armed conflict in Mukacheve was fought to control the lucrative, cigarette contraband trade, reported on July 12 MP Mustafa Nayyem of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction. The Right Sector fighters were representing the interests of Viktor Baloha, an MP who’s widely recognized as the top baron of the Zakarpattia region. In turn, the Right Sector denied any involvement in contraband, alleged it was fighting such corruption in its confrontation and called for the arrest of Lanyo, local police and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, with which it has had a long-standing conflict.

In response to the conflict, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called a meeting today of the Army Cabinet, a working body of the National Security and Defense Council. Zakarpattia prosecutors filed criminal charges of terrorism and forming criminal organizations against the Right Sector paramilitaries. At least two of the 14 paramilitaries still at large surrendered as of Sunday night, reported MP Anton Gerashchenko.

Zenon Zawada: The Ukrainian government has long tried to legalize all paramilitary units in the war and bring them under central command, to no avail. And now the government’s ongoing conflict with the paramilitaries have begun to harm the government’s image on the international level. Dmytro Kuleba, a Foreign Ministry official, has already reported that the weekend’s gunfight is a large setback to Ukrainians trying to gain visa-free travel to the European Union.

Poroshenko and his military advisors face a big problem in gaining compliance with the Right Sector, which is openly critical of the government for failing to address the country’s core problems of corruption and winning the war. (Ironically, the Right Sector itself stands accused of corruption by many MPs, who allege the conflict was over control of the contraband trade of cigarettes.)

Yet the Right Sector enjoys significant support among the population, which is largely disenchanted with the government and its “business as usual.” Many see the paramilitaries as the last defense between the public and the nation’s oligarchy, which remains firmly entrenched, despite the president’s “deoligarchization” campaign, which has been skin deep and poorly planned.

This is yet another conflict that we see Poroshenko having difficulty in addressing (besides his conflicts with rival oligarchs such as Kolomoisky). The president needs the public’s support to rein in the paramilitaries, yet his policies have largely fueled the public’s cynicism for the government and support for such “Robin Hoods.” As many observers have repeated, the government needs to undertake a grand strategy of renewing state structures and the way they operate to address most of it problems.

Indeed a “new Ukraine” project is desperately needed, which is a bell that has been sounded by many political observers ever since the EuroMaidan. Instead, the government’s uninspiring patchwork approach to extinguishing fires as they ignite – while turning a blind eye those created by the politically connected – is approaching exhaustion, which will lead to political crisis. We have stated it will come within a year’s time.