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|footnotes={{smallsup|1}}Former party member Boryslav Bereza also has a seat in Ukraine's parliament; but won this seat as an independent candidate.<ref name=BtwdfRS/>}}
|footnotes={{smallsup|1}}Former party member Boryslav Bereza also has a seat in Ukraine's parliament; but won this seat as an independent candidate.<ref name=BtwdfRS/>}}


'''Right Sector''' ({{lang-uk|Правий сектор}}, ''Pravy/Pravyi Sektor'') is a [[Ukrainian nationalism|Ukrainian nationalist]] political party that originated in November 2013 as a paramilitary confederation at the [[Euromaidan]] protests in [[Kiev]], where its street fighters fought against riot police.<ref name="barricades">{{cite news |last=Shuster |first=Simon |title=Ukraine parliament’s deal leads to an uneasy peace |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=21 February 2014 |url=http://world.time.com/2014/02/21/ukraine-parliament-yanukovych-kiev-deal/ |quote=Troops from Pravy Sektor then went on a reconnaissance mission … looking for things to reinforce their barricades…. One … still wore a green army helmet and a policeman’s baton stuck into her backpack…. “I didn’t get into this for politics,” she said. “I’m a radical. I joined up to fight.”}}</ref><ref name="timeshuster" /> The coalition became a political party on 22 March 2014, at which time it was estimated to have perhaps 10,000 members.<ref name="mccoy">{{cite news |last=McCoy |first=Terrence |date=26 March 2014 |title=Ultranationalist’s killing underscores Ukraine’s ugly divisions |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/26/ultranationalists-killing-underscores-ukraines-ugly-divisions/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]] |quote=Right Sector … boasts between 5,000 and 10,000 members…}}</ref><ref name="nemtsova">{{cite news |last=Nemtsova |first=Anna |title=Yarosh: Russians, rise up against Putin! |url=http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/28/dmitry-yarosh-ukraine-russia-crimea.html |newspaper=[[Newsweek]]|date=19 March 2014 |quote=''Yarosh'': ‘I cannot give you the exact number, as our structure and divisions are constantly growing all over Ukraine, but more than 10,000 people for sure… We received some U.S. dollars from the Ukrainian diaspora.’}}</ref>
'''Right Sector''' ({{lang-uk|Правий сектор}}, ''Pravy/Pravyi Sektor'') is a [[far-right]] [[Ukrainian nationalism|Ukrainian nationalist]] political party that originated in November 2013 as a paramilitary confederation at the [[Euromaidan]] protests in [[Kiev]], where its street fighters fought against riot police.<ref name="barricades">{{cite news |last=Shuster |first=Simon |title=Ukraine parliament’s deal leads to an uneasy peace |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=21 February 2014 |url=http://world.time.com/2014/02/21/ukraine-parliament-yanukovych-kiev-deal/ |quote=Troops from Pravy Sektor then went on a reconnaissance mission … looking for things to reinforce their barricades…. One … still wore a green army helmet and a policeman’s baton stuck into her backpack…. “I didn’t get into this for politics,” she said. “I’m a radical. I joined up to fight.”}}</ref><ref name="timeshuster" /> The coalition became a political party on 22 March 2014, at which time it was estimated to have perhaps 10,000 members.<ref name="mccoy">{{cite news |last=McCoy |first=Terrence |date=26 March 2014 |title=Ultranationalist’s killing underscores Ukraine’s ugly divisions |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/26/ultranationalists-killing-underscores-ukraines-ugly-divisions/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]] |quote=Right Sector … boasts between 5,000 and 10,000 members…}}</ref><ref name="nemtsova">{{cite news |last=Nemtsova |first=Anna |title=Yarosh: Russians, rise up against Putin! |url=http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/28/dmitry-yarosh-ukraine-russia-crimea.html |newspaper=[[Newsweek]]|date=19 March 2014 |quote=''Yarosh'': ‘I cannot give you the exact number, as our structure and divisions are constantly growing all over Ukraine, but more than 10,000 people for sure… We received some U.S. dollars from the Ukrainian diaspora.’}}</ref>


Founding groups included [[Tryzub (organization)|Trident]] (Tryzub), led by [[Dmytro Yarosh]] and Andriy Tarasenko; and the [[Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence|Ukrainian National Assembly–Ukrainian National Self-Defense]] (UNA–UNSO), a political/paramilitary organization.<ref name="BBCRSSpPr" /><ref name="db1" /> Other founding groups included [[Patriots of Ukraine|Patriot of Ukraine]], the [[Social-National Assembly]], White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich. White Hammer was expelled in March 2014.<ref name="whammer">{{cite web |url=http://pravyysektor.info/news/ofitsijna-zayava-pravoho-sektoru/ |title=Official statement by Right Sector |author=Right Sector Political Council |date=6 March 2014 |website=PravyySektor.info |language=Ukrainian |quote=For marginal actions that defame the Right Sector movement and for breach of discipline, [White Hammer] is removed from our organization.… Our actions must be coordinated and consistent.}}</ref> In June 2014 one of the groups was assigned by the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine)|Interior Ministry]] to surveil [[Mariupol]] after it captured the city from Russian-backed insurgents.<ref name="ft-azov">{{cite news |last=Chazan |first=Guy |title=Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |date=1 August 2014 |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00b9d16-196a-11e4-8730-00144feabdc0.html |quote=Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels’ barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chazan |first=Guy |title=Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |date=1 August 2014 |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00b9d16-196a-11e4-8730-00144feabdc0.html |quote=Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels’ barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.}}</ref>
Founding groups included [[Tryzub (organization)|Trident]] (Tryzub), led by [[Dmytro Yarosh]] and Andriy Tarasenko; and the [[Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence|Ukrainian National Assembly–Ukrainian National Self-Defense]] (UNA–UNSO), a political/paramilitary organization.<ref name="BBCRSSpPr" /><ref name="db1" /> Other founding groups included [[Patriots of Ukraine|Patriot of Ukraine]], the [[Social-National Assembly]], White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich. White Hammer was expelled in March 2014.<ref name="whammer">{{cite web |url=http://pravyysektor.info/news/ofitsijna-zayava-pravoho-sektoru/ |title=Official statement by Right Sector |author=Right Sector Political Council |date=6 March 2014 |website=PravyySektor.info |language=Ukrainian |quote=For marginal actions that defame the Right Sector movement and for breach of discipline, [White Hammer] is removed from our organization.… Our actions must be coordinated and consistent.}}</ref> In June 2014 one of the groups was assigned by the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine)|Interior Ministry]] to surveil [[Mariupol]] after it captured the city from Russian-backed insurgents.<ref name="ft-azov">{{cite news |last=Chazan |first=Guy |title=Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |date=1 August 2014 |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00b9d16-196a-11e4-8730-00144feabdc0.html |quote=Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels’ barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chazan |first=Guy |title=Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |date=1 August 2014 |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00b9d16-196a-11e4-8730-00144feabdc0.html |quote=Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels’ barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.}}</ref>

Revision as of 16:55, 13 March 2015

Right Sector
Правий сектор
LeaderDmytro Yarosh
Founded22 March 2014
Registered 22 May 2014
Merger ofTryzub
UNA–UNSO
Patriot of Ukraine
Social-National Assembly
Sich[citation needed]
White Hammer (expelled in 2014)
C14 (left in 2014)
HeadquartersKiev, Ukraine
ParamilitaryVolunteered Ukrainian Corps (unofficial)
Membership10,000
IdeologyUkrainian nationalism
Ultranationalism[1]
Political positionFar-right
Colors    Red, Black
SloganGod! Ukraine! Freedom![2]
Seats in Verkhovna Rada
1 / 450
[3]
Website
pravyysektor.info
1Former party member Boryslav Bereza also has a seat in Ukraine's parliament; but won this seat as an independent candidate.[4]

Right Sector (Template:Lang-uk, Pravy/Pravyi Sektor) is a far-right Ukrainian nationalist political party that originated in November 2013 as a paramilitary confederation at the Euromaidan protests in Kiev, where its street fighters fought against riot police.[5][6] The coalition became a political party on 22 March 2014, at which time it was estimated to have perhaps 10,000 members.[7][8]

Founding groups included Trident (Tryzub), led by Dmytro Yarosh and Andriy Tarasenko; and the Ukrainian National Assembly–Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA–UNSO), a political/paramilitary organization.[9][10] Other founding groups included Patriot of Ukraine, the Social-National Assembly, White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich. White Hammer was expelled in March 2014.[11] In June 2014 one of the groups was assigned by the Interior Ministry to surveil Mariupol after it captured the city from Russian-backed insurgents.[12][13]

Right Sector's political ideology has been characterized as nationalist,[14][15] ultranationalist,[16][17] neofascist,[18] right-wing,[19] or far right.[20][21][22][23] Right Sector was the second-most mentioned political group in Russian media during the first half of 2014; Russian state TV depicted it as neo-Nazi.[24][25] The Associated Press and other international news organizations found no evidence that the group had committed hate crimes.[17] In 2010, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union reported on attacks by Right Sector founding groups S.N.A and "Patriot of Ukraine" against Vietnamese and other foreign market stalls in Vasylkiv. Most attacks were carried out by youth and targeted Vietnamese, Uzbeks and Roma.[26] According to the S.N.A website, they drove foreigners from the market within two weeks and replaced them with Ukrainians. The S.N.A states that some of their victims were hospitalized.[27]

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Yarosh as a Right Sector candidate won a parliament seat by winning a single-member districts with 29.76% of the votes.[28] In the same election Right Sector spokesperson Boryslav Bereza as an independent candidate also won a seat and district with 29.44% of the votes.[4]

Name

The organization's name is in Ukrainian Правий сектор, which can be transliterated as Pravyy sektor and translated as Right Sector. (General-audience publications often transliterate it as Pravy Sektor or Pravyi Sektor.) According to a website associated with the Euromaidan protests, Maidan Press Center, Right Sector's name derives from its effort to protect the right side of protestors at one point during the protests.[29][failed verification]

History

Origins

Dmytro Yarosh, Tryzub's leader and the current leader of Right Sector.

Right Sector formed in late November 2013 as a confederation of streetfighting soccer fans and right-wing nationalist groups: Patriot of Ukraine (Andriy Belitsky), the Social-National Assembly, Trident (Dmytro Yarosh), UNA–UNSO (Yuriy Shukhevych), White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich.[9][10][30][31][32] The BBC reports that Right Sector's Kiev organization is primarily formed by Russian-speaking soccer fans who share nationalist views.[33][34][35]

The organization views itself within the tradition of Ukrainian partisans, such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought in the Second World War against the Soviet Union and both for and against the Axis.[33][36] Yarosh, Right Sector's leader, has trained armed nationalists in military exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union.[37] Co-founder Andriy Tarasenko told LIGA news agency in January 2014 that most participants were "ordinary citizens not related to any organizations".[9][38]

Right Sector has received some financing from the Ukrainian diaspora.[8]

Entry into Euromaidan

Three helmeted protestors throwing pavement bricks at riot-police line under cover of smoke from burning tires
Protesters throwing bricks at riot police, using tire smoke as cover from sniper fire, Kiev, 18 February 2014

Right Sector became one of the main actors in the January 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots, a part of the Euromaidan protests, in their later and more violent stages.[10][39] On 19 January 2014 the organization encouraged its members to bring bottles to the protests in order to produce Molotov cocktails and bombs.[9] The Yanukovich government classified it as an extremist movement and threatened its members with imprisonment.[40]

Right Sector has been described as the most organized and most effective of the Euromaidan forces when it came to confronting police.[41] Right Sector claims that it was the main organizer of violent resistance against armed attacks by the state at Euromaidan.[31] Yarosh stated that the group had amassed a sizable arsenal of weapons;[6] these include guns taken from police stations in Western Ukraine.[42] The Associated Press has reported that it found no evidence of hate crimes by the group.[17]

On 4 March 2014, the organization called on readers of its Vkontakte social-media page to edit the English- and Russian-language versions of the "Right Sector" entry in Wikipedia. It said that the encyclopedia's representations of its views as fascist and neo-Nazi were having consequences.[43]

According to political science professor Olexiy Haran, Right Sector's role in Ukrainian politics was "extremely exaggerated" by Ukrainians associated with Yanukovich.[24]

Aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution

twenty masked activists posing with a Ukrainian flag and a Right Sector banner showing trident as ship anchor at a Euromaidan event in Odessa
Activists in Odessa holding Right Sector banner with ship-anchor design, 9 February 2014

Yarosh was proposed as a deputy to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine[44] but was not appointed. He was then offered the position of deputy head of the National Security Council but rejected it as being beneath him.[45]

In February 2014, Yarosh and the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine agreed to establish a "hotline" to prevent provocations and coordinate actions when issues arise.[46][47] The group assists in the protection of Jewish sites in Odessa.[48]

Russia has cited attacks by Right Sector on Russian speakers and Jews as the main reason it sent troops into Crimea.[17]

On 7 March 2014, Tarasenko told Interfax-Ukraine that the "informal movement" would be transforming itself into a political party at a congress on 15 March.[49][need quotation to verify]

On 11 March 2014, Russian Duma opposition leader Valery Rashkin called on Russian special services to "liquidate" Yarosh and Right Sector's leader for West Ukraine, UNA–UNSO member Oleksandr Muzychko.[50] He said that Muzychko had fought for Chechen separatists against Russian troops and been charged with banditry. Muzychko (who was given the nom de guerre "Sachko Bilyi") had also become known for the farcical Right Sector video, "Sachko Communicates with a Prosecutor", in which he yells at a local prosecutor, snatches his tie and threatens to pull him to Independence Square with a rope.[10]

Muzychko was shot to death in Rivne, Ukraine, on 24 March 2014. A witness told a local news service that a dozen men took Muzychko out of a cafe, handcuffed him, and beat him and two bodyguards. Others said that they later heard two shots fired near the cafe.[51] Ukraine's Interior Ministry stated that he was shot after opening fire on police and Sokil special forces. He was captured alive and arrested but died from his wounds before paramedics arrived.[52] Police said he was being detained on suspicion of organized crime links, hooliganism and threatening public officials.[53][54][55]

A line of five Patriot of Ukraine members (some with bats) providing security at a meeting organized by Right Sector activists, at the Euromaidan’s main stage
Patriot of Ukraine members standing guard at a Right Sector event, Euromaidan, Kiev, 13 April 2014

Right Sector representatives held Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accountable for his death and vowed to avenge him.[56] On 27 March 2014, Right Sector supporters demanded Avakov's resignation and tried to storm the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament).[57] The next day, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, stated, "I strongly condemn the pressure by activists of the Right Sector who have surrounded the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Such an intimidation of the parliament is against the democratic principles and rule of law."[58]

A few days later the group released an app that allows its members to organize tactics at events without being identified.[59]

On 31 March 2014, a drunken Right Sector activist started shooting near a restaurant in central Kiev. Three people were wounded, including the deputy head of the Kiev City State Administration.[60]

2014 pro-Russian conflict and 2014 Ukrainian election results

On 24 April 2014 Right Sector announced that it was moving its headquarters from Kiev to Dnipropetrovsk in order to monitor the situation in eastern Ukraine[61] and that it had begun to form a special battalion 'Donbass' for its paramilitary operations in the War in Donbass.[62]

On 22 April 2014 pro-Russian insurgents in Slovyansk detained American journalist Simon Ostrovsky for several days on suspicion of spying for the group.[63]

Right Sector was officially registered as a political party by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on 22 May 2014.[64] A regional chief told the Wall Street Journal that it was less interested in running for office than in getting politicians to keep their promises.[65]

In the 25 May 2014 presidential race Yarosh received 127,000 votes, 0.7% of the total cast.[66][67][68][need quotation to verify] In a mid-May 2014 poll by Sociological group "RATING" the party itself scored 1.7%.[69][nb 1]

On 13 June 2014 a prosecutor's office in Kiev was stormed by people who claimed to be Right Sector activists. Yarosh denied his organization's involvement and claimed that he could not have given orders to picket "the man who helped Euromaidan".[72][need quotation to verify]

On 15 October 2014 around 125 masked men with Right Sector insignia blocked the company Zaporizhstal; Right Sector denied involvement in this blockade and labelled it as an attempt to discredit the organization.[73]

Party support (% of the votes cast) in different regions of Ukraine (in the 2014 election).

In the 26 October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Yarosh as a Right Sector candidate won a parliament seat by winning single-member districts number 39 located in Vasylkivka Raion with 29.76% of the votes.[28] The party had competed in 35 districts.[74] Yarosh did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).[75] In the same election Right Sector's head of the information department Boryslav Bereza as an independent candidate also won a seat by winning a district in Kiev with 29.44% of the votes.[4] Bereza also did not join a faction.[76]

On 24 December 2014, Amnesty International reported that the Right Sector militia was blocking humanitarian aid from Ukraine reaching the population of the separatist-controlled areas; over half the population in these areas depend on food aid.[77] They have refused to allow most aid convoys through, because they believe food and clothing are ending up in the wrong hands and may be sold instead of being given as humanitarian aid. They also insist on the release of prisoners held by the separatist forces as a condition for granting access to the humanitarian aid to the east.[77] Denis Krivosheev, acting Director of Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International, stated that "Using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime".[77]

Paramilitary operations

Yarosh (right) meets Donbas Battalion commander Semyon Semenchenko, 12 July 2014

Right Sector seized military weaponry from an Interior Ministry arsenal in western Ukraine, near Lviv, towards the end of the Maidan revolution. Right Sector delivered some weapons to Ukrainian authorities in the aftermath of the revolution, and kept others.[78]

Following the collapse of the Yanukovych government, with police having largely abandoned the streets of Kiev, groups of young men, including members of Right Sector, patrolled them armed mostly with baseball bats and sometimes with guns.[41]

According to Yarosh, Right Sector has recruited retired officers of the interior ministry and the security agencies. He told Newsweek that "as in any army" it has specialists who are trained to use S-300 antiaircraft missiles.[8]

According to political science professor Lucan Way, political violence by Right Sector, undertaken partly in response to pro-Russian vigilantes harassing protesters, threatened democratic development in Ukraine and increased the possibility of a civil war.[79]

Right Sector has its own volunteer battalion that is fighting in the War in Donbass.[80] It was formed late April 2014.[62] According to the Ukrainian Army "a person who is going to serve in a military formation automatically terminates membership in any political party".[81] On 19 July 2014 Right Sector said it was ready to contribute 5,000 people to fight, if the military provided suitable combat equipment.[82]

Right Sector lost 12 fighters when ambushed outside Donetsk in August 2014. Yarosh, the group's leader, vowed his group would avenge the deaths.[83] On 17 August 2014 Right Sector accused the Interior Ministry of harbouring counterrevolutionary forces seeking to destroy the Ukrainian volunteer movement.[84] It said that Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov's followers among the police had illegally searched or detained dozens of Right Sector volunteers and confiscated weapons they had taken in combat.[85] Interior Minister Arsen Avakov replied, saying that he had already submitted a request to President Poroshenko that Yevdokimov be dismissed.[86]

Ideology

Description by the party

The party's ideology is based on the Ukrainian national idea.[2] The party believes that idea of a nation is more broad than the concept of people as ethnos, yet nothing even close to the cosmopolitan concept of "political nation".[2] Nation is a conscious and effective unity of people united around the idea of freedom that is based on ethno-social and spiritually cultural factors.[2]

March in Kiev on anniversary of the birthday of Stepan Bandera, 1 January 2015

Ukrainian nationalism is

  • Ideology of national freedom, freedom of people and person[2]
  • Idea and cause in the name of Ukraine[2]
  • Ideology of defense, preservation and state assertion of Ukrainian nation[2]
  • Philosophy of national existence[2]

Main component of the natiocentric outlook is natio-existential Shevchenko Thought.[2] The thought that is based on protection, development and revival of the nation based on national imperative or absolute order.[2]

The idealistic worldview is intrinsic to Ukrainian nationalism.[2]

Descriptions in scholarly work

Scholars Andreas Umland and Anton Shekhovstov have written that Right Sector formed as a loose collection of small groups, outside parliament, that were ultraconservative and included a neo-Nazi fringe.[31] According to researcher Alina Polyakova, one of Right Sector's constituent groups, Tryzub, is composed of radical, right-wing nationalists. She writes that the Patriots of Ukraine, another constituent group, has organized attacks against foreigners or international students, and is connected to neo-fascist ideology and symbolism; scholar Volodymyr Ishchenko describes the group as neo-Nazi.[87] Polyakova describes the ideology of the UNA-UNSO as nationalist, and sometimes including aspects of anarchism.

Shekhovstov has written that Patriot of Ukraine and Social National Assembly, which are racist and engage in real or symbolic violence against minorities, also oppose alcohol and drug use.[88] (Also) according to Shekhovtsov "The main peculiarity of the Ukrainian far right is that its main enemy is not immigrants or national minorities, as often happens with the EU-based far right, but the Kremlin".[89]

Descriptions in the press

Right Sector has been described by BBC News as a "Ukrainian nationalist group"[16] and an "umbrella organization of far-right groups".[90] Time has described it as a "radical right-wing group ... a coalition of militant ultra-nationalists",[20] with an ideology that "borders on fascism".[6] The New York Times has described it as a "nationalist group" and a "coalition of once-fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups".[15]

The Guardian has identified it as a "nationalist Ukrainian group";[91] Reuters as a "far-right nationalist group";[92] Agence France Presse as a "far-right" group;[23] the Wall Street Journal as an "umbrella group for far-right activists and ultranationalists".[93]

Die Welt, the New York Times, and Le Monde Diplomatique have described some of Right Sector's constituent groups as radical right-wing, neofascist, or neo-Nazi.[18][30][33]

Writing for Foreign Policy, Hannah Kozlowska has stated that Russian propaganda tried to demonize the Ukraine government and build a case for the annexation of Crimea by depicting Right Sector as a powerful neo-Nazi force bent on taking over the government. During the first half of 2014, Right Sector was the second-most mentioned political group in online Russian mass media.[24]

The Associated Press has called it a "radical ultranationalist group ... demonized by Russian state propaganda as fascists".[17]

The Russian News & Information Agency has identified Right Sector as a "radical far right opposition group" and said that "Russian state media have tried to cast the demonstrations as a predominantly Fascism-inspired movement".[21]

The RT (formerly Russia Today) TV News network has identified it as a "Ukrainian radical neo-fascist" group.[61]

Other Ukrainians and political parties

In an interview, Yarosh stated that Right Sector and Svoboda "have a lot of common positions when it comes to ideological questions," but that Right Sector "absolutely do[es]n't accept certain racist things they [Svoboda members] share."[94] Tarasenko cited Stepan Bandera, stating: "We are enemies to those saying that there [is] no Ukraine, or Ukrainians, or … Ukrainian language."[95]

According to journalist Oleg Shynkarenko, Yarosh has indicated that Right Sector opposes homosexuality and has also implied that the right of the nation trumps human rights.[10] The New York Times has written that "Right Sector, a coalition of ultranationalist and in some cases neo-Nazi organizations," has attempted to distance itself from anti-Semitism, citing Yarosh's pledge to fight racism in Ukraine.[30] According to Spiegel Online, Dmytro Yarosh has stated that anti-semitism is not a part of Right Sector's ideology, though he has written a book in which he asks, "I wonder how it came to pass that most of the billionaires in Ukraine are Jews?"[when?].[96]

Tarasenko has stated that the group has no "phobias", that it respects every other nation, and that it supports the nation state model.[95]

Some Ukrainians in southern and eastern Ukraine view Right Sector negatively and accuse its members of carrying out a war against the regions on behalf of the government in Kiev.[97] The group took part in demonstrations in support of Israel in the city of Dnipropetrovsk on 28 July 2014, saying, "We, like Israel, learn unity; learn to love and defend their country, at war with the most heinous and vile enemy - terrorism."[98]

Attitude towards Europe

Right Sector's website says that its members distrust the "imperial ambitions" of both Russia and the West.[99] Yarosh told Spiegel Online that anti-Christian organizations are in active operation in the EU and that the European Commission (rather than the member nation) has control of lifestyles such as gay marriage.[96] He does not see Europe or NATO as a potential partner and believes that they are part of a coalition against Ukraine.[96]

Right Sector is the only Ukrainian activist group that opposes joining the European Union. It regards the EU as an "oppressor" of European nations.[34]

Domestic policy

Right Sector has the position that the population should keep and bear arms, as in Switzerland.[95] Yarosh told the New York Times that the organization's lawyers were drafting a bill modeled on Swiss notions of firearms possession.[78]

Component groups

Academic and media sources have described some of Right Sector's constituent groups as nationalist,[14][100] ultranationalist,[30][101] neofascist,[33] neo-Nazi,[30][87] right-wing,[33] far right,[88][102] ultraconservative,[31] or paramilitary. A plurality or majority of Right Sector's members belong to street fighting soccer-fan clubs[34][35][79] or have no specific affiliation.

Patriot of Ukraine

Main article: Patriot of Ukraine
See also: Social-National Assembly, Andriy Biletsky (politician), and Azov Battalion
Andriy Biletsky addresses the Second Congress of the "Patriot of Ukraine", Kharkiv, April 12, 2008

Patriot of Ukraine is a Ukrainian nationalist organization with racist and neo-Nazi political beliefs, primarily active in eastern Ukraine, where it has organized attacks on foreigners and international students.[87][88][103][104][105][106][107] It constitutes a paramilitary wing of the Social-National Assembly of Ukraine (S.N.A.), an assemblage of neo-Nazi organizations and groups[108] founded in 2008 out of members of the Kharkiv branch of Tryub organization to revive the liquidated Social-National factions (Social National Party of Ukraine and Patriot of Ukraine, 1996-2004). Unlike the previous organization that was based in Lviv, the revived Patriot of Ukraine is based out of Kharkiv. It shares the social-national ideology and agrees upon building a social-national state in Ukraine.[88][109][need quotation to verify][110][need quotation to verify] Both Patriot of Ukraine and the S.N.A. engage in political violence against minorities and their political opponents.[26][107][111] The leader of Patriot of Ukraine and of the Social-National Assembly is Andriy Biletsky. Members of the Patriot of Ukraine created its own separate territorial defense battalion, the Azov Battalion, that participates mostly in defense of the Ukrainian Azov littoral region and Mariupol city located in the south of Donetsk Oblast.

Tryzub (Trident)

Main article: Tryzub

Tryzub is a far-right[6] Ukrainian paramilitary organization founded in 1993 by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (former Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists).[107] Its full name is the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization ″Tryzub″ and it states that its main goal is to create the Ukrainian United Independent State.[citation needed] According to Tryzub, its enemies in achieving this goal are ″imperialism and chauvinism, fascism and communism, cosmopolitanism and pseudo-nationalism, totalitarianism and anarchy, any evil that seeks to parasitize on the sweat and blood of Ukrainians″.[112]

Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense

Main article: Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence
UNA-UNSO members in Kiev, January 26, 2014
File:Ukrainian Volunteer Corps logo.png
Volunteer Ukrainian Corps (DUK), a paramilitary wing of the Right Sector, among the Donetsk airport defenders

The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA–UNSO) is a Ukrainian political organization perceived as a far-right in Ukraine and abroad.[113][114][needs update] The faction is known for its volunteer battalion that in 1993 participated in defense of Georgia against the Russian invasion and the fact was depicted in a documentary film of Georgiy Gongadze, "Shadows of War". While the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) acted as the organization's legal political party - wing, on 22 May 2014 it merged into Right Sector.[64] The UNA-UNSO continues to operate independently.

White Hammer (2013–14)

White Hammer was expelled from Right Sector for using racist slogans.[24]

White Hammer (Bilyi Molot) is an extreme right-wing nationalist group formed in 2013; it opposes mass immigration.[14][32][100] Its name derives from its members' use of sledgehammers to destroy illegal casinos and take money from slot machines. Anton Shekhovstov wrote in Krytyka: "[Around 1 March 2014] two White Hammer members allegedly participated in the murder of three State Automobile Inspection officers."[115] On 6 March 2014 Right Sector stated that it was expelling White Hammer for marginal actions that were defaming the movement and for breach of discipline.[11] Eleven members were arrested later that month.[116]

After the start of hostilities with Russia many volunteers formed their own groups in the form of Territorial defense battalion (Ukraine). However, these battalions are legal parts of various Ukrainian security agencies most serving under the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior and their volunteers are required to follow orders of the commanders appointed to these agencies. In May 2014 the group became registered as a social organization under Ukrainian law.[117][118]

The status of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps is not official.

Notes

  1. ^ In a March 2014 poll by International Republican Institute it had scored 1%, in a Razumkov Centre March poll 1.8%.[70][need quotation to verify][71]

References

  1. ^ "Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector". BBC. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ideology of Tryzub and Right Sector. Right Sector website
  3. ^ Template:Uk icon Elected People's Deputies of Ukraine. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  4. ^ a b c Template:Uk icon Candidates and winner for the seat in constituency 213 in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, RBK Ukraine
    Template:Uk icon Boryslav Bereza very short bio, RBK Ukraine
    Video of first brawl in Verkhovna Rada becomes a YouTube hit, Kyiv Post (5 December 2014)
  5. ^ Shuster, Simon (21 February 2014). "Ukraine parliament's deal leads to an uneasy peace". Time. Troops from Pravy Sektor then went on a reconnaissance mission … looking for things to reinforce their barricades…. One … still wore a green army helmet and a policeman's baton stuck into her backpack…. "I didn't get into this for politics," she said. "I'm a radical. I joined up to fight."
  6. ^ a b c d Shuster, Simon (4 February 2014). "Exclusive: Leader of far-right Ukrainian militant group talks revolution with TIME". Time. Pravy Sektor has amassed a lethal arsenal of weapons.… Its fighters control the barricades around the protest camp … and when riot police have tried to tear it down, they have been on the front lines beating them back…. [Its] ideology borders on fascism….
  7. ^ McCoy, Terrence (26 March 2014). "Ultranationalist's killing underscores Ukraine's ugly divisions". Washington Post. Right Sector … boasts between 5,000 and 10,000 members…
  8. ^ a b c Nemtsova, Anna (19 March 2014). "Yarosh: Russians, rise up against Putin!". Newsweek. Yarosh: 'I cannot give you the exact number, as our structure and divisions are constantly growing all over Ukraine, but more than 10,000 people for sure… We received some U.S. dollars from the Ukrainian diaspora.'
  9. ^ a b c d "Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest". BBC News. 1 February 2014. The Right Sector is a radical nationalist opposition group…
  10. ^ a b c d e Shynkarenko, Oleg (1 March 2014). "Can Ukraine control its far right ultranationalists?". Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov condemned the video as 'not an exaggerated manifestation of the hunt for justice, but sabotage against people's faith in possible order.' [Muzychko] may have thought he was clowning around…
  11. ^ a b Right Sector Political Council (6 March 2014). "Official statement by Right Sector". PravyySektor.info (in Ukrainian). For marginal actions that defame the Right Sector movement and for breach of discipline, [White Hammer] is removed from our organization.… Our actions must be coordinated and consistent.
  12. ^ Chazan, Guy (1 August 2014). "Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence". Financial Times. London. Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels' barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.
  13. ^ Chazan, Guy (1 August 2014). "Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence". Financial Times. London. Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. [It] stormed the rebels' barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.
  14. ^ a b c Kramer, Andrew (12 March 2014). "A far-right leader is front and center in Kiev". New York Times. p. A8. Yarosh's bid for office, political commentators here say, is best understood as the latest maneuver in the ceaseless churn and infighting among the leadership of western Ukrainian nationalist groups — White Hammer, Patriots of Ukraine and the Trident of Stepan Bandera….
  15. ^ a b Higgins, Andrew (12 April 2014). "Mystery surrounds death of fiery Ukrainian activist". New York Times. p. A4. Mr. Muzychko — a militant activist in the nationalist group Right Sector — died fleeing the reach of a Ukrainian government he had helped bring to power.… Mr. Muzychko's … former comrades in Right Sector, a coalition of once-fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups, believe….
  16. ^ a b "Ukraine unrest: Russian outrage at fatal Sloviansk shooting". BBC News. 20 April 2014. At least three people were reported killed in a gun attack on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian activists…. The Russian foreign ministry said … Right Sector was behind the attack.… Ukraine's National Security Council … said there were indications that it was 'an argument between local criminal groups'.
  17. ^ a b c d e Danilova, Maria (March 14, 2014). "After Ukraine protest, radical group eyes power". Associated Press. The radical ultranationalist group … [has been] demonized by Russian state propaganda as fascists and accused of staging attacks against Russian speakers and Jews.… The AP and other international news organizations have found no evidence of hate crimes.
  18. ^ a b Dreyfus, Emmanuel (2 March 2014). "Ukraine Beyond Politics". Le Monde Diplomatique. Retrieved 6 March 2014. Pravy Sektor defines itself as "neither xenophobic nor anti-Semitic, as Kremlin propaganda claims" and above all as "nationalist, defending the values of white, Christian Europe against the loss of the nation and deregionalisation". Like Svoboda, it rejects multiculturalism… Svoboda's success over the past few years and the presence of neo-fascist groups such as Pravy Sektor in Independence Square are signs of a crisis in Ukrainian society. It is first and foremost a crisis of identity: in 22 years of independence, Ukraine has not managed to develop an unbiased historical narrative presenting a positive view of all its regions and citizens: even today, the Ukrainians are seen as liberators in Galicia but as fascists in Donbass.
  19. ^ "How did Odessa's fire happen?". BBC News. 4 May 2014. Hardline fans – known as 'ultras' – of both sides agreed to hold a joint march to support a united Ukraine.… Some were veteran supporters of Kiev's Maidan protest movement – the Maidan Self Defence Forces – and/or part of the right-wing Pravy Sektor (Rights Sector).
  20. ^ a b Shuster, Simon (6 March 2014). "Putin says Ukraine's revolutionaries are anti-Semites. Is he right?". Time. The uprising … involved a radical right-wing group called Pravy Sektor, a coalition of militant ultra-nationalists…. Their leader … has been offered senior posts in Ukraine's security services….
  21. ^ a b "Ukrainian nationalist targeted over alleged Chechnya atrocities". Moscow. RIA Novosti [Russian News & Information Agency]. 7 March 2014. Muzychko is a coordinator for Pravy Sektor, the radical far right opposition group…. Russian state media has tried to cast the demonstrations as a predominantly Fascism-inspired movement.
  22. ^ Whalen, Jeanne (25 March 2014). "Prominent Ukraine nationalist killed during police operation". Wall Street Journal. Russia's state-controlled media outlets have focused particular attention on Mr. Muzychko and one other activist from a far-right group called Pravy Sektor.
  23. ^ a b "Ukraine paramilitary group forms political party". Agence France Presse. 22 March 2014. A Ukrainian far-right paramilitary group … said Saturday it had formed a political party.… The Pravy Sektor party will absorb other already registered Ukrainian nationalist formations including UNA-UNSO and Trizub (Trident).
  24. ^ a b c d Kozlowska, Hanna (2 June 2014). "The Fascists are coming, the Fascists are coming!". Foreign Policy. D.C. Experts agree that the group owes its popularity to Russian propaganda … painting [it] as a powerful neo-Nazi force determined to take over Ukraine. According to a survey by an online database of Russian media sources, Right Sector was the second-most mentioned political group in Russian mass media in 2014….
  25. ^ "Ukraine conflict: Turning up the TV heat". BBC News. 10 August 2014. More emotive is the use of the words 'fascist' and 'Nazi' in many Russian TV reports … in several contexts, [which include] portraying the far-right Right Sector as Ukraine's real driving political force….
  26. ^ a b http://helsinki.org.ua/index.php?id=1298444209
  27. ^ http://snaua.info/migrantiv-vikunuli-z-vasilkivskog/
  28. ^ a b Template:Uk icon Candidates and winner for the seat in constituency 39 in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, RBK Ukraine
    Data on vote counting at percincts within single-mandate districts Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  29. ^ Pastushenko, Andriy (April 10, 2014). Про початок Майдану і Правого Сектору (video) (Speech). Press conference (in Ukrainian). Maidan Press Center, Kiev. Sometime during the second hour of the night it began to rain…. The girls tried to unwrap the usual oilcloth, and the police then immediately tore it. They thought, they were really putting tents there.… {{cite speech}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ a b c d e Higgins, Andrew (9 April 2014). "Among Ukraine's Jews, the Bigger Worry Is Putin, Not Pogroms". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2014. Even Right Sector, a coalition of ultranationalist and in some cases neo-Nazi organizations, has made an effort to distance itself from anti-Semitism.
  31. ^ a b c d Andreas Umland; Anton Shekhovtsov (July 2014). "Ukraine's Radical Right". Journal of Democracy. 25 (3): 59–60. Retrieved 21 July 2014. Along with Svoboda, the other far-right movement that was a prominent presence on the Maidan was the more diverse, less studied, and now notorious fringe organization that calls itself Pravy Sektor (Right Sector)…. That alliance came into being in late November 2013 as a loose collection of extraparliamentary minigroups from an ultraconservative and partly neo-Nazi fringe. They had names such as the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization "Trident" (a moniker meant to combine the memory of a controversial nationalist leader who died in 1959 with the three-pronged heraldic symbol of Ukraine), the Ukrainian National Assembly, the Social-National Assembly, and White Hammer. Their purpose in banding together was to fight Yanukovych's regime by force.
  32. ^ a b Krasnolutska, Daryna; Verbyany, Volodymyr (11 February 2014). "Ukraine radicals steer violence as nationalist zeal grows". Bloomberg.
  33. ^ a b c d e "The radical Ukrainian group Right Sector". Die Welt. 22 February 2014. Right Sector (Pravy Sektor) is an informal association of right-wing and neo-fascist factions. Cite error: The named reference "welt0222" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  34. ^ a b c "Profile: Ukraine's 'Right Sector' movement". BBC News. 21 January 2014. The backbone of the organisation in Kiev is formed by Russian-speaking football fans sharing nationalist views.… Unlike other protesters …, most of the Right Sector activists do not support the idea of joining the EU, which they consider to be an 'oppressor of European nations'.
  35. ^ a b G.C. (22 January 2014). "Ukraine: A new and dark chapter". Economist. It was not long after that that young men associated with the Right Sector (Pravyy Sektor), a motley confederation of football hooligans and nationalist groups involved in the pro-European protests, took matters into their own hands.
  36. ^ Baranova, Maria (3 March 2014). "No one has done more for Ukrainian nationalism than Vladimir Putin". New Republic.
  37. ^ Klußmann, Uwe (3 March 2014). "Conflict with Russia". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  38. ^ "Right Sector: Who are they and what is sought?" (in Russian). Kiev: LIGA BusinessInform. LIGA News. 20 January 2014. But most participants – ordinary citizens, not related to any organizations.… In eastern Ukraine, we have tried to organize the union in Kharkov, but there with [their own?] Maidan is not all good.
  39. ^ Radicals a wild card in Ukraine’s protests, The Washington Post (2 February 2014)
  40. ^ Theise, Eugen (11 November 2014). "Radical 'Pravy Sektor' group shifts Kyiv protests to the right". Deutsche Welle. Only a few trusted individuals know [that the men] belong to 'Right Sector'…. Since the government classified their movement as extremist, they could face a jail term of up to 15 years.
  41. ^ a b Gatehouse, Gabriel (1 March 2014). Ukraine: Far-right armed with bats patrol Kiev (Webcast). BBC. At a news conference in Russia, [former President Yanukovych] called his usurpers 'young, neo-fascist thugs'.
  42. ^ Ishchenko, Volodymyr (28 February 2014). "Ukraine has not experienced a genuine revolution, merely a change of elites". Guardian. The new government cannot control the infamous Right Sector. Its members are now popular heroes…. They have guns captured from police departments in the western regions….
  43. ^ Sabina Zawadzki; Mark Hosenball; Stephen Gray (7 March 2014). "In Ukraine, nationalists gain influence - and scrutiny". Reuters. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  44. ^ Olearchyk, Roman (26 February 2014). "Arseniy Yatseniuk poised to become Ukraine prime minister". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 February 2014. In a bid to appease protesters demanding an end to government corruption, Mr Yatseniuk's cabinet will have civic activists to oversee it.… Victoria Siumar, a civil society activist, and Dmytro Yarosh, head of Right Sector, a militant protest group, were proposed as [Yatseniuk's] deputies.
  45. ^ Shuster, Simon (1 March 2014). "Many Ukrainians want Russia to invade". Time. Shkiryak, a revolutionary lawmaker involved in the negotiations over Yarosh's role in the government, says the right-wing militant … was offered the role of deputy head of the National Security Council, but rejected it as beneath him.
  46. ^ "'Right Sector' assured the ambassador of Israel, rejecting anti-Semitism". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 27 February 2014. Leaders of the 'Right Sector' assured the Israeli ambassador Reuven El Din that its ideology rejects all manifestations of chauvinism and xenophobia.
  47. ^ "Meeting of Reuven Din El with Dmytro Yarosh". Embassy of Israel in Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Israeli Diplomatic Network. 27 February 2014. The parties agreed to establish a 'hot line' to prevent provocations and for coordination on issues that arise.
  48. ^ "Right Sector has offered protection for Odessa Jews". Ukrainian Pravda (in Ukrainian). 10 April 2014. The chief rabbi of Odessa … said that … they, along with a representative of the Right Sector, will paint over the insulting inscriptions.
  49. ^ "'Right Sector' is becoming a party and Yarosh is going for the presidency". Українська правда. Kiev. March 7, 2014.
  50. ^ "Russian deputy calls on special services to 'liquidate' Yarosh and White [Muzychko]". Lenta.ru. 11 March 2014. Russia's Investigative Committee … brought a case of banditry against Muzychko in connection with the Chechen separatists.… Muzychko is a prominent member of the nationalist association UNA–UNSO….
  51. ^ Petrulya, Stephen (25 March 2014). "Version No. 2–Sasha White Shot" (in Ukrainian). Rivne, Ukraine. News Rivne. A resident of the town … said that around twelve unknown men entered the Karas cafe…. They brought out all customers, including Muzychko. They put handcuffs on him and beat him and two bodyguards. After a time people heard two gunshots….
  52. ^ "Ukraine far-right leader Muzychko dies 'in police raid'". BBC News. 25 March 2014. Muzychko fired at police as he was trying to flee…. Police then returned fire and captured him and three others … [Deputy Interior Minister] Yevdokimov said. 'He was still alive as they were arresting him….'
  53. ^ Pemble, Adam; Leonard, Peter (25 March 2014). "Busloads of Ukrainian troops leave Crimea". Associated Press. Russian state television … has regularly aired lurid reports on Muzychko's antics as part of what media analysts say is a sustained effort to undermine the government…
  54. ^ Interior Ministry: Right Sector coordinator Muzhychko killed in shootout with police Kyiv Post Retrieved on March 25, 2014
  55. ^ "Notorious Ukrainian nationalist militant shot dead in police raid". RT. TV-Novosti. 26 March 2014. A former senior official at the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) told [Russian News & Information Agency] that the objective of the operation – carried out by SBU with the help of the Interior Ministry – was to kill Muzychko, rather than to detain him.
  56. ^ "Nationalists threaten Ukrainian top cop with 'revenge' over far-right leader murder". RT [Russia Today]. TV-Novosti. 25 March 2014.
  57. ^ "Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector". BBC. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  58. ^ "STATEMENT by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on recent events around the Parliament of Ukraine". European Union.
  59. ^ "Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector launches mobile app to organize tactics". Russian News & Information Agency. 10 April 2014. Right Sector … is a major ally of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party….
  60. ^ "'The Khreshchatyk shooter was drunk; he has been detained' – Avakov". Ukrainian Pravda. Kiev. 31 March 2014. One pulled out a gun; the second, a chemical-spray canister and splashed his face, then began firing….
  61. ^ a b "Ukraine's far-right leader moves HQ to the east, forms new squadron". RT TV News. Moscow. 24 April 2014. Ukrainian radical neo-fascist Right Sector group has moved its main headquarters … to Dnepropetrovsk to 'closely monitor' the developments in the east, its leader said…. Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov … sees the existence and the expansion of the neo-Nazi group as a violation of last week's Geneva accords.
  62. ^ a b Yarosh assembles 'Donbas' special battalion, Kyiv Post (April 24, 2014)
    Ukraine's extremists forming battalion in Donetsk region, ITAR-TASS (April 24, 2014)
  63. ^ Karmanau, Yuras (23 April 2014). "Amid Russia warning, Ukraine is in a security bind". Associated Press. Simon Ostrovsky, a journalist for Brooklyn-based Vice News, has not been seen since early Tuesday…. A spokeswoman for the Slovyansk insurgents confirmed that Ostrovsky was being held, … saying [he] is suspected of spying for Right Sector.
  64. ^ a b Right Sector registered as official party, Interfax-Ukraine (22 May 2014)
  65. ^ Sestanovich, Stephen (25 May 2014). "A firsthand view of Ukraine's election". Wall Street Journal. Little that we heard distinguished Right Sector from garden-variety Euro-populism.… If Ukraine ever gets into the EU, these are people who will always be mad as hell at Brussels bureaucrats.
  66. ^ "Poroshenko wins presidential election with 54.7% of vote - CEC". Radio Ukraine International. 29 May 2014.
    Template:Ru icon Results election of Ukrainian president, Телеграф (29 May 2014)
  67. ^ "Poroshenko leads in presidential race with 54.45% of votes after 95.05% of electronic voting reports processed – CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 27 May 2014.
  68. ^ "Results of voting in Ukraine, Extraordinary elections of President of Ukraine, 25 May 2014". Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian).
  69. ^ Template:Uk icon Social and political attitudes of the population: May 2014, Sociological group "RATING" (20 May 2014)
  70. ^ Template:Ru icon March 2014 poll, Razumkov Centre (26 March 2014)
  71. ^ Public Opinion Survey Residents of Ukraine, International Republican Institute (30 March 2014)
  72. ^ Template:Uk icon "Right sector" promises to investigate who and why stormed the Kyiv prosecutor's office, Ukrayinska Pravda (13 June 2014)
  73. ^ Authorities promise to thoroughly investigate into facts of blocking Zaporizhstal, Kyiv Post (Oct. 21, 2014)
  74. ^ Template:Uk icon Candidates for constituency for Right Sector in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, RBK Ukraine
  75. ^ Template:Uk icon Yarosh's profile, Verkhovna Rada official website
  76. ^ Template:Uk icon Bereza's profile, Verkhovna Rada official website
  77. ^ a b c Amnesty International, Eastern Ukraine: Humanitarian disaster looms as food aid blocked, 24 December 2014.
    http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/eastern-ukraine-humanitarian-disaster-looms-food-aid-blocked-2014-12-24
    Blocked trucks with Akhmetov foundation's aid for Donetsk redirected to Dnipropetrovsk for reloading under observers' supervision, Interfax-Ukraine (15 December 2014)
  78. ^ a b Kramer, Andrew (21 March 2014). "Deadline is set for militias in uprising to surrender their illegal guns". New York Times. p. A12. 'It's not normal to ask people to hand in their weapons in the situation we have now,' Dmytro Yarosh, the leader of a right-wing paramilitary group, Right Sector, said in an interview….
  79. ^ a b Way, Lucan (July 2014). "Civil Society and Democratization". Journal of Democracy. 25 (3). It was only after the start of the protests that various small parties and factions of the far right joined to form Right Sector, which came to the fore in the second half of January, when protests turned violent… Democracy is most directly undermined by the numerous associations promoting violence that emerged during the protests. Such associations include the Right Sector's paramilitary formations and the "heavenly hundreds" that arose to fight the police and the pro-Russian titushki or vigilante groups created to harass protesters. Also problematic are the "ultras," groups of hardcore soccer fans that began providing protection for anti-Yanukovych protesters in January. By promoting vigilante violence outside state control, such groups directly threaten democratic development. They facilitate state breakdown and bloody patterns of aggression and retribution, making civil war much more likely.
  80. ^ "Donbas battalion loses 4 in Ilovaisk assault". Kiev. Ukrinform. 11 August 2014. The anti-terrorist operation (ATO) forces … began to storm pro-Russian militants entrenched in Ilovaisk…. The assault began with the participation of the volunteer battalions Donbas, Azov, Shakhtarsk, and the Right Sector, … in conjunction with the ATO forces.
  81. ^ "11 Ukrainian servicemen killed in Donbas over past 24 hours". Kiev. Ukrinform. 13 August 2014.
  82. ^ "Right Sector ready to send 5,000 people to east". Kiev. Ukrinform. 19 July 2014. Press Secretary … Skoropadsky said … 'We came to support actions of the President on holding the ATO [anti-terrorist operation]. But actually it is not well held. I saw that the volunteer battalions lack weapons. This is the most important requirement.'
  83. ^ Zinets, Natalia (13 August 2014). "Twelve Ukrainian nationalist fighters killed in separatist ambush". Reuters.
  84. ^ "Ukraine crisis: Russian aid convoy arrives at border". BBC News. 17 August 2014. The leader of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector threatened to withdraw volunteers fighting on the government side.… Yarosh said Right Sector would launch a 'campaign in Kiev' if its demands … were not met within 48 hours. {{cite news}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  85. ^ Yarosh, Dmytro; Stempitskyy, Andriy (17 August 2014). "Letter to the President of Ukraine from the Right Sector military-political movement". Euromaidan Press. Kiev. Starting with the destruction of our colleague Oleksandr Muzychka … there is a methodical game from the side of the police…. We demand the release of all detainees and the closing of all criminal proceedings against the soldiers of the Ukrainian Volunteer Right Sector Corps and other volunteer units….
  86. ^ "Right Sector threatens armed march on Kiev unless police drop charges against supporters". RT TV News. Moscow. 17 August 2014. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov dismissed the Right Sector's threat on his Facebook page, calling … the statement a publicity stunt, … adding that he sent the paperwork to have Yevdokimov dismissed to the government a couple of weeks ago.
  87. ^ a b c Ishchenko, Volodymyr (2011). "Fighting Fences vs Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine". Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. 19 (1–2). ...rightist non-partisan groups including overtly racist "autonomous nationalists" (http://reactor.org.ua) and the neo-Nazi "Patriot of Ukraine" (http://www.patriotukr.org.ua/). For the far right sector politics of memory actions comprised 29.2% of all protest actions with their participation, this was larger than the shares of social-economic, political struggle, and civic rights protest issues (Table 7)… After the notorious death of Maksym Chaika in a fight with antifascists in Odessa in April 2009, Yushchenko unambiguously supported the far right interpretation of the accident claiming the victim to be "an activist of a patriotic civic association" consciously murdered by "pro-Russia militants" ignoring Chaika's connections with rightist football hooligans and his membership in the "SICH" ("Glory and Honor") organization, a participant in the Social-Nationalist Assembly (http://sna.in.ua/) together with the neo-Nazi group "'Patriots of Ukraine.'"
  88. ^ a b c d Shekhovstov, Anton (2013). "17: Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda.". In Wodak (ed.). Right-Wing Populism in Europe. Bloomsbury Academic. Svoboda also seems to benefit from the increasing popularity of extreme-right youth movements and organizations like the Social-National Assembly (SNA), 'Patriot of Ukraine' and Autonomous Resistance, whose aim is to create 'a uniracial and uninational society'. The activities of these groups are not limited to physical or symbolic violence against ethnic and social minorities, as they also take an active part in numerous social campaigns - generally along with representatives of Svoboda - ranging from mass protests against price rises to leafleting against alcohol and drug use. Needless to say, members of these extreme-right movements are often members of Tyahnybok's party. Interestingly, 'street combat youth movements' like the SNA no longer focus on ethnic issues: in contrast to the older Ukrainian far right, the new groups are, first and foremost, racist movements.
  89. ^ Ukraine's parliament to remain a rowdy place, Associated Press via Yahoo! News (28 October 2014)
  90. ^ Stern, David (1 April 2014). "Ukraine crisis: Kiev takes on far right". BBC News. These [men and women] were members of the Right Sector: an umbrella organization of far-right groups….
  91. ^ Harding, Luke (20 April 2014). "Ukraine unrest: Russian outrage at fatal Sloviansk shooting". Guardian. The foreign ministry in Moscow … blamed the clash on the Right Sector, a nationalist Ukrainian group…
  92. ^ Balmforth, Richard (1 April 2014). "Ukraine orders disarming of armed groups after shooting". Reuters. Police shut down the Kiev base of a far-right nationalist group…
  93. ^ Whalen, Jeanne (10 April 2014). "Protesters still hang out around Kiev 'Maidan,' hanging on to weapons too". Wall Street Journal. They belong to many different factions, the most radical of which is Pravy Sektor, or Right Sector, an umbrella group for far-right activists and ultranationalists.
  94. ^ Nayyem, Mustafa; Kovalenko, Oksana (4 February 2014). "[Right Sector leader Dmitry Jarosz: When 80% of the country does not support the government, there cannot be a civil war]". Ukrayinska Pravda. 'The Right Sector also includes Trident, UNA-UNSO and Carpathian Sich from Transcarpathia.'
  95. ^ a b c Azar, Ilya (10 March 2014). "Мы — не вооруженные силы": Интервью с одним из лидеров украинского "Правого сектора". Lenta.ru (in Russian). Moscow. Nationalists from the fighting movement Right Sector … are depicted as neo-Nazis by Russian state TV channels.… The head of the Kiev branch explained to Lenta.ru … how it intends to deal with the Russian army in case of military invasion.… 'We believe that people should be armed. As in Switzerland.…' {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  96. ^ a b c Bidder, Benjamin; Klußmann, Uwe (16 April 2014). "Practice for a Russian invasion: Ukrainian civilians take up arms". Spiegel Online. [The EC's power] is, he says, 'a variety of totalitarianism'. The authors note that Yarosh studied linguistics. See generally Webster’s Third, s.v. “totalitarianism” (“1. Centralized control by an autocratic … hierarchy regarded as infallible.”).
  97. ^ Sengupta, Kim (8 May 2014). "Ukraine crisis: The Odessa file - how a cultural melting pot boiled over into sectarian strife; The vacuum left by last week's deadly fire has been filled with fear, tension and recrimination. Kim Sengupta reports from the city". The Independent. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  98. ^ Nikitin, Andrei (28 July 2014). У Дніпропетровську "Правий сектор" і єврейська громада мітингували на підтримку Ізраїлю. Sehodnya.ua (in Ukrainian). Kiev. Activists from the Jewish community and Right Sector Dnipro … gathered to support Israel in fighting terrorism.… 'We, like Israel, learn unity … in a war with … terrorism.' {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  99. ^ Petro, Nicolai (March 3, 2014). "Threat of Military Confrontation Grows in Ukraine". The Nation. N.Y.C. Its members are critical of party politics and skeptical of the 'imperial ambitions' of both Moscow and the West.
  100. ^ a b Higgins, Andrew; Kramer, Andrew (21 February 2014). "Converts join with militants in Kiev clash". New York Times. p. A1. Svoboda has at times clashed with … Right Sector, a coalition of a half-dozen hard-line nationalist groups that were once on the fringe, such as Patriots of Ukraine, Trident and White Hammer.
  101. ^ G.C. (15 February 2014). "Ukraine's protestors: Maidan on my mind". Economist. London. Some of [the Maidan] Samooborona's [Self-Defense's] more fearsome units … belong to the Pravyy Sektor, which formed in November as a coalition of ultra-nationalist groups. It has an estimated 500–700 members….
  102. ^ Katchanovski, Ivan (20 July 2014). "What do citizens of Ukraine actually think about secession?". WashingtonPost.com. D.C. In trying to solve the conflict in Donbas, the Ukrainian government continues to rely on … special police battalions formed with the involvement of far-right parties and organizations, such as the Right Sector and the Social National Assembly.
  103. ^ Polyakova, Alina (17 May 2014). "From the provinces to the parliament: How the Ukrainian radical right mobilized in Galicia". Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 47: 211–225. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  104. ^ Weir, Fred (1 May 2014). "Kiev is 'helpless' in east Ukraine. Can it even police the Maidan?". Christian Science Monitor. Boston. Patriots of Ukraine, one of three radical nationalist groups that coalesced last November to form Right Sector, a group made infamous by Kremlin propaganda, which describes it as the neo-fascist heart of the Maidan revolution.
  105. ^ Shekhovstov, Anton (March 2011). "The Creeping Resurgence of the Ukrainian Radical Right? The Case of the Freedom Party". Europe-Asia Studies. 63 (2): 203–228. During the second half of the 1990s, the SNPU recruited Nazi skinheads and football hooligans. At the same time, the party decided to reorganise its 'popular guard units' to form the Tovarystvo spryyannya zbroinym sylam ta viiskovo-mors'komu flotu Ukrayiny 'Patriot Ukrayiny' (Society of Assistance to Armed Forces and Navy of Ukraine 'Patriot of Ukraine'), headed by Andrii Parubii. However, although the 'Patriot of Ukraine' was formed in 1996, it was not until 1999 that it became a full-fledged organisation. Its first convention took place in Lviv in December 1999 and was celebrated by a night-time torch procession through the city streets… [In 2004, the SNPU] the convention disbanded the Patriot of Ukraine, as this paramilitary organisation as such and its overtly racist stances in particular posed a threat to the new 'respectable' image of the Freedom Party… The Kharkiv local organisation of the Patriot of Ukraine refused to disband and renewed its membership in 2005. The following year, it managed to register as a regional social organisation, but, from then on, it had no organisational ties with the maternal party.
  106. ^ Ghosh, Mridula (2013). Ralf Melzer (ed.). The Extreme Right in Ukraine’s Political Mainstream: What Lies Ahead?. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. In its own internal flows of communication and control, Svoboda has always been a top-down organization that does not permit dialogue or encourage critical thinking and dissent. Yet it has made good use of "open" forms of grassroots exchanges, communicating with the public and attracting new recruits via social networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and VKontakte. In this context, special mention should be made of the relations that Svoboda has maintained with what may be called the "informal" far-right, a category that includes the neo-Nazi underground, radical football fans, and hooligans. Members of these groups constitute hidden reservoirs of support for Svoboda and its ideology, Among them are those who openly propagate intolerance (e.g., by supporting total bans on immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers), including one part of UNA-UNSO; the Ukrainian National Labor Party and Patriots of Ukraine; skinheads; followers of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky; Fans of the Third Hetmanate; and the Delegation of the Right from the regions. There are also those who do not champion racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, but nevertheless harbor other radical ideas... {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  107. ^ a b c Likhachev, Viacheslav (September–October 2013). "Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise in Ukraine". Russian Politics and Law. 51 (5). doi:10.2753/RUP1061-1940510503. The main extrasystemic ultraright group in Ukraine in recent years has been Patriot of Ukraine (led by Andriy Biletsky). The core of the organization was formed in Kharkiv in 2004, when a group of activists belonging to the SNPU's paramilitary youth wing of the same name refused to accept the leaders' decision to disband the militarized organization while "rebranding" their party. By 2006, Patriot of Ukraine had become a public movement with branches in many regions of the country. Activists appeared in camouflage uniform with neo-Nazi symbols. Many public actions were organized—targeting migrants, political opponents, and others. Violence (including the use of firearms) was repeatedly used against political opponents and members of ethnic and sexual minorities. In 2011, during the investigation of several criminal cases (one charge concerned the preparation of a terrorist act), almost the entire leadership of the organization in Kyiv and Kharkiv ended up behind bars; this paralyzed the movement and caused it to split… Members of almost all the organizations listed are known to have engaged in ideologically motivated violence. Cite error: The named reference "likhachev" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  108. ^ Shekhovtsov, Anton (2013). "17: From Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda". In Ruth Wodak (ed.). Right-Winf Populism in Europe. Blumsbury Academic. pp. 249–263. ISBN 1780932456. Retrieved 12 May 2014. At the same time, Nova Syla's Yuriy Zbitnyev is one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Social-National Assembly, an organization that is also close to the younger members of Svoboda, but Nova Syla itself, while remaining on the fringes of Ukrainian politics, is not much influenced by these relations.
  109. ^ Template:Uk icon Андрій Білецький (Andriy Belitsky). Український расовий Соціал-Націоналізм – ідеологія організації „Патріот України” (Ukrainian racial Social-Nationalism - ideology of the Patriot of Ukraine). In: Український соціальний націоналізм (Ukrainian social nationalism). (Бібліотека організації „Патріот України”. The Patriot of Ukraine library.) Харків (Kharkiv): Патріот України (The Patriot of Ukraine), 2007, с.3-5.
  110. ^ Template:Ru icon Олег Однороженко. Социал-националистическое движение и его основные задачи (Social-nationalistic movement and its agenda). In: Український соціальний націоналізм (Ukrainian social nationalism). (Бібліотека організації „Патріот України”. The Patriot of Ukraine library.) Харків (Kharkiv): Патріот України (The Patriot of Ukraine), 2007, с.46-54.
  111. ^ GHOSH, MRIDULA (2011). Diversity and Tolerance in Ukraine in the Context of EURO 2012. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. An analysis in 2008 stated that, police investigation reports of the growing number of hate crimes after the year 2005 against foreigners and visible minorities showed that in the majority of cases the perpetrators were radical youth groups. The analysis covered such groups as Patriot of Ukraine, Ukrainian Peoples Labor Party, Ukrainian Alternative, National Action "RID", Sich, Character Kozatstvo, Svyato-Andriyivsky, Kozachiy Kurin and others… They demand total ban on migration, are against refugees and asylum seekers and the concept of tolerance. Groups such as Skinheads, followers of Hetman Pavel Skoropadskiy, Fans of the Third Hetmanate, Movement against Illegal Migration and Delegation of the Right from the Regions are those who support similar ideas.
  112. ^ Декларація наших принципів (in Ukrainian). Тризуб. Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |description= and |deadurl= (help)
  113. ^ Singh, Anita Inder (2001), Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Security in Post-Communist Europe, Greenwood, p. 114
  114. ^ Dymerskaya-Tsigelman, Liudmila; Finberg, Leonid (1999), "Antisemitism of the Ukrainian Radical Nationalists: Ideology and Policy", Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism (14), Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism
  115. ^ Shekhovtsov, Anton (April 2014). "'Right Sector': Between political and technical (street) policy". Krytyka (in Ukrainian). Kiev. At the end of Euromaidan protests … two members of White Hammer allegedly participated in the killing of three SAI officers. Upon notification by the prosecution that the 'cop' murder could have been committed by Euromaidan activists, Right Sector leadership stated that White Hammer is excluded from the organization.
  116. ^ "FOI 315-14. Digest of information: 'White Hammer' organisation, Ukraine" (PDF). WhatDoTheyKnow. London: UK Citizens Online Democracy. 22 April 2014. The Right Sector is said to be composed of 'Trident', 'UNA-UNSO', 'Sich' (Carpathian cossacks), 'White Hammer', 'Patriot of Ukraine' and other … far-right groups.… 11 members of 'White Hammer' … have recently been arrested in connection with their involvement in the murder of three traffic policemen … in early March.
  117. ^ "Ukraine Right Sector threatens Poroshenko with Yanukovich's fate". RT.
  118. ^ ""Right sector" is registered as a social organization and not as a political party". ipress.
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