Ukraine drafts special forces unit into Odessa
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UKRAINE’S Interior Minister said yesterday he had drafted a new special forces unit into the southern port city of Odessa after the “outrageous” failure of police to tackle pro-Russian militants in a weekend of violence that killed dozens.
Fighting continued near the eastern city of Slaviansk where Ukrainian troops have been, somewhat tentatively, pressing a campaign to end pro-Russian rebellion.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the new Odessa force is based on “civil activists who wanted to help the Black Sea city “in these difficult days.” The entire leadership of the local police has been sacked and could face criminal action.
The Odessa violence was the deadliest since former President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in February and pro-Russian militants launched uprisings in the industrial east.
Ukrainian leaders have made it clear they see the police force across wide areas of the country as unreliable in the face of rebellion they say is backed by Moscow and led on the ground by Russian special forces. The units Avakov referred to emerged partly from the uprising against Yanukovych early this year.
That could fuel anger among the government’s opponents, who accuse it of promoting “fascist” militant groups, such as Right Sector, which took part in the Kiev uprising over the winter.
Kiev’s anger yesterday focused on the Odessa police decision to release 67 largely pro-Russian militants after supporters besieged and stormed a police station on Sunday.
The crowd of several hundred chanted “Odessa is a Russian city!” Russian is the first language of many of its residents.
The militants were arrested last Friday after hours of clashes, with the use of petrol bombs and small arms, on the streets of the Black Sea city.
Pro-Russian supporters withdrew to a building that later burned down with the loss of over 40 people — bloodshed that Moscow blames on Kiev’s “provocations.”
Escalating unrest
Russia warned, meanwhile, that failure to halt the escalating unrest in Ukraine would threaten peace across Europe, and accused Ukrainian ultra-nationalists of rights violations on a massive scale.
“Joint efforts by the Ukrainian people and the international community should as soon as possible put an end to racism, xenophobia, ethnic intolerance, the glorification of the Nazis and their Bandera accomplices,” the foreign ministry said.
Stepan Bandera was a leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which battled against the Soviets and collaborated with Germany during World War II. He is hailed as a hero in western Ukraine.
“The alternative is fraught with such destructive consequences for Europe’s peace, stability and democratic development that it is absolutely necessary to prevent it,” said the Russian foreign ministry.
The lengthy report called the “White Book” also said “ultranationalist, extremist and neo-Nazi” forces had monopolized the protest movement in Ukraine and committed “mass” rights violations against the country’s Russian speakers.
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