Ukraine govt labels opposition terrorists, rejected by Western diplomats

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Head Oleksandr Yakymenko announced in a Feb. 19 statement that the SBU and the state Antiterrorism Center will launch an anti-terrorism operation throughout Ukraine’s territory. He said it will involve the SBU, Internal Affairs Minister, Defense Ministry, Border Service and central and local state organs. He labeled the EuroMaidan’s activity as “concrete terrorist acts” that include murder, takeover of government buildings and confiscation of state arms. “Radical and extremist groups pose a real threat to the lives of millions of Ukrainians,” the statement said. SBU officials reported that 1,500 armaments were gained from raids on state law enforcement organs in Ukraine’s regions.

U.S. President Barack Obama called on the Ukrainian government to refrain from employing armed forces in resolving the political crisis, warning of consequences for those who “step over the line.” “We hold the Ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way, that the Ukrainian people are able to assemble and speak freely about the interests without fear of repression,” he said on Feb. 19.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry called an emergency meeting on Feb. 19 involving Western diplomats and law enforcement authorities, the Kommersant-Ukraine news site reported today. Serhiy Burkalov, the head of the public relations administration of the Internal Affairs Ministry, insisted no snipers were used by the police, despite ample video and photographic evidence to the contrary. He also insisted the police used no firearms, despite lethal bullet wounds suffered by activists and ample photographs on the Internet of officers holding Kalashnikovs. “We have very reliable information that police had firearms and used them,” said Andreas von Beckerath, the Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine. 

In response, Burlakov said many activists have bullet wounds in their spines, “which gives the basis to state that they were founded by their comrades.” Dutch Ambassador to Ukraine Peter Jan Walters criticized the government’s characterization of the opposition as terrorists. “Even a broad interpretation of the term ‘terrorism’ doesn’t allow you to call your political opponents as such,” he said.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara on Feb. 18. The failure of the meeting was evident in his remarks afterwards, telling the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper, “From this moment on, the U.S. holds the government responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine.” A similar position was adopted by Western diplomats.

Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an expert on Ukrainian affairs, compared the events of Feb. 18 to China’s Tiananmen Square massacre of dozens of protesters. He said both the Ukrainian government and opposition leadership have lost control of the conflict. “People in Ukraine see that the government doesn’t want talks,” he said in an interview with Polish radio. “And all this is happening in a country where no one trusts each other. During my time in Kyiv months ago, I was surprised by the level of mutual distrust, to put it lightly.”

Zenon Zawada: The government’s anti-terrorism offensive has yet to be launched on a full scale, with no reports of army soldiers in the city center yet. Yet many observers believe it’s the government that has engaged in terrorism against its population by ignoring two months of peaceful protest, attempting to eliminate freedom of speech and assembly, illegally imprisoning and torturing protesters, hiring thugs to beat and murder activists, and opening gunfire on unarmed people.

The Ukrainian government’s disastrous handling of the political crisis has ruined its standing among Western governments. Its black-and-white characterization of the conflict, blaming all the violence and trouble on the opposition, has jeopardized its credibility with Western leaders.