15 October 2014
A demonstration of about 10,000 participants at the parliament building on Oct. 14 was disrupted by violent provocateurs who wore masks and Ukrainian national symbols, swung chains and batons, brawled, threw stones, and hurled some bombs, explosives and Molotov cocktail, news reports said. The protests were organized by nationalist forces to demand state recognition of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought the Nazis and Soviet Red Army in World War Two. The groups organizing the demonstration denied any involvement in the violence, which began after parliament failed to include the measure in the day’s agenda. Also denying involvement was the Bratstvo anti-Western organization, which is believed to have Kremlin links.
The brawling resulted in 15 injured police officers and 37 arrests, said Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on Oct. 14, blaming the “foul and criminal behavior of untamed radicals,” which is deserving of condemnation. Among those arrested is a police officer who wore a mask and possessed a slingshot and metal nuts, reported Zorian Shiriak, an advisor to the Interior Ministry.
Russian intelligence services may have been involved in the provocations, reported on Facebook on Oct. 14 Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Interior Ministry. “The ministry turned to all the political forces with the proposal to refrain from conducting mass protests in Kyiv until the Oct. 26 elections because they can be used as provocations by Ukraine’s enemies,” he wrote. “But political ambitions took priority over common sense.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko views the provocations at parliament as “a failed attempt to open a new front in Ukraine,” tweeted the president’s press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko. The provocations at the parliament building undermined voting for several bills, including financing the agency for anti-terrorist operation (ATO) veterans and injured, Avakov reported on his Facebook page. Other bills that failed to get on the agenda included establishing the procedure for 50,000 soldiers to vote in the ATO zone, as well as amendments to the 2014 budget and law on volunteering.
Military prosecutors opened a criminal case in relation to the protest of more than 350 National Guardsmen at the Presidential Administration on Oct.13, said Procurator General Vitaliy Yarema, as reported by the Interfax-Ukrayina news agency. The prosecutors will try to determine who organized the demonstration, which could lead to criminal charges if the intent was to discredit the Ukrainian government and army, Yarema said. The president views the Oct. 13 protest as an attempt to discredit the Ukrainian army, Tsegolko tweeted.
Zenon Zawada: The authorities should first determine whether it was “untamed radicals” or Russian intelligence services before making conflicting statements. We favor the theory that both the Oct. 13 protest of National Guardsmen and the Oct. 14 provocation have their roots in the Russian intelligence services. We have no doubt that among the Russian government’s foreign policy goals in Ukraine are to provoke conflicts between the pro-EU forces, create an atmosphere of fear and distrust and keep the political situation in a constant state of destabilization.
So rather than expand its military operation, which would have merely brought more sanctions and trouble with the Western governments, the Russian intelligence services may have shifted to destabilization tactics on the political front, which will draw less attention internationally. We expect more such attempts to disrupt the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections in order to cast doubt on their legitimacy.