Odesa council avoids proposal to recognize Russia as aggressor

The Odesa City Council didn’t include in the agenda of its Sept. 10 sessions a proposal to recognize the Russian Federation as a “country-aggressor,” reported the dumskaya.net news site. In response, a Euromaidan activist attempted to place a trash bag over the heads of those councilmembers opposed, resulting in some brawling with guards who removed protestors.

An attempt was made to detonate an explosive near the entrance to a military base of the National Guard in Odesa, its press service reported on Sept. 10. The assailants left behind 400 grams of TNT, which they intended to explode using a mobile phone, the statement said.

Zenon Zawada: Certainly, there’s an old guard running politics and business in Odesa that’s quite loyal to Moscow. And there’s a significant pro-Russian radical presence there. Throughout the last decade, Ukraine’s third-largest city has been the site of numerous conflicts between Russian and Ukrainian activists. At the same time, the fact that the city has largely rallied behind Mikheil Saakashvili as its regional administration head is evidence that the populace is favoring the Western civilizational model.