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Extremism in Ukrainian Politics, Society, Media, Defense and Law Enforcement

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Extremism in Ukrainian Politics, Society, Media, Defense and Law Enforcement www.cis-emo.net EXPERT REPORT EXTREMISM IN UKRAINIAN POLITICS, SOCIETY, MEDIA, DEFENSE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUE I June 2015 This project is funded with a government grant in accordance with ruling of the President of the Russian Federation № 243-RP as of July 25 2014 and based on a contest held by the National Charity Foundation Moscow 2015 Extremism in Ukrainian politics, society, media, defense and law enforcement. Expert report. Issue I. – М.: Commonwealth of the Independent States – Election Monitoring Organization CIS-EMO, 2015. – 256 p. ISBN www.cis-emo.net © Commonwealth of the Independent States – Election Monitoring Organization CIS-EMO, 2015 Head of the project: KOCHETKOV, Aleksey Vladimirovich is an inter- national expert who developed modern methods of monitoring electoral process and campaigns, head of the Commonwealth of the Independent States – Elec- tion Monitoring Organization CIS-EMO (2003-2013). Authors: BYSHOK, Stanislav Olegovich is a political analyst, graduate of the Psychology School of Lomonosov Mos- cow State University, author and coauthor of books on contemporary Russian and Ukrainian politics, student of Ukrainian nationalism. VALYAEV, Evgeniy Yuryevich is a lawyer, graduate of Law School of the Tax Academy of the Russian Fed- eration under the Ministry of Finance, political analyst, student of Russian and Ukrainian politics. KRUGLETSKIY, Oleg Vyacheslavovich is a psy- chologist, lecturer in military arts at Military Educa- tion School at Lomonosov Moscow State University, student of electoral process in the post-Soviet space. PROSTAKOV, Sergey Vadimovich is a graduate of Voronezh State University, student of regional politics, contemporary political and social protest. With participation of: ZHIVOV, Aleksey Alekseyevich is a political scien- tist, graduate of the School of Economics of Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Infor- matics, graduated from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration with a diploma of a lecturer in political sciences. KIREEV, Vladimir Konstantinovich is a PhD in phi- losophy, student of political process in the post-Soviet space. LAPSHIN, Sergey Andreyevich is a lawyer, gradu- ate of Law School of the Tax Academy of the Russian Federation under the Ministry of Finance. * * * Growing large-scale political, interethnic and so- cial confl icts is today’s global trend that fully affects the Russian Federation and entire Eurasia. The Ukrainian crisis that started with social unrest on the square of Maidan in the winter of 2013-2014 demonstrated vividly that radical groups’ threats aimed at disintegration of the post-Soviet space had acquired a distinct organized character in Ukraine. The coup d’état and snap presidential and parlia- mentary elections in the country have brought to power a large number of radical nationalist leaders. The Crimean crisis and military confl ict in Donbass proved that Ukrainian radicals had integrated into Ukraine’s government system gaining considerable clout primarily to control law enforcement (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security Service of Ukraine and Armed Forces of Ukraine). Many volunteer military battalions in Ukraine are based on extremist organizations. Radical national- ist, anti-Russian sentiments have turned from mar- ginal groups into the political mainstream supported by the country leaders and the media. Monitoring political and ideological groups in the post-Soviet space is an important work to prevent extremist activity in Russia. A systemic approach by Russian state bodies and non-governmental organi- zations to working with Ukrainian counterparts re- quires objective data. Permanent monitoring whose data is to lay a basis for an information database on what has been happening and to reveal extremists trends is an important activity of the CIS-EMO. This work will form an important part of forecasting polit- ical tensions and instability in the post-Soviet space. CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................... Extremists in the Supreme Rada ................................... • Petro Poroshenko Bloc .......................................... • Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) All-Ukrainian Union ............................................. • People’s Front ....................................................... • Radical Party ......................................................... • Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union ............................... • Others: Dmytro Yarosh, Andriy Biletsky, Volodymyr Parasyuk, Boryslav Bereza, Semen Semenchenko ............................................ Street Activity of Extremists in Ukraine after the Maidan ......................................... • 2014 Snap Presidential Election ............................ • 2014 Snap Parliamentary Election ......................... • 2014-2015 “Dumpster Lustration” ........................ • 2015 May Holidays ................................................ Ukrainian Media as a Propaganda Tool .......................... • Manufacturing Hatred ........................................... • Justification of Genocide of Civilians and War Crimes ..................................................... • Russophobia and Extremism in the Media ............. • Freedom of Speech at Gunpoint ............................ Cooperation between Extremists and Security Services .................................................. Volunteer Battalions of Ukraine .................................... • Azov ..................................................................... • Aidar ..................................................................... • The Right Sector Volunteer Ukrainian Corps (DUK-PS) ............................................................ • Pogonia ................................................................. • “Chechen” Battalions ........................................... • Territorial battalions .............................................. Ì Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ........................................ Ì Kiev .................................................................. Ì Lugansk Oblast .................................................. Ì Kharkiv Oblast .................................................. Ì Chernihiv Oblast ................................................ Ì Vinnytsia Oblast ................................................ Ì Volhynia Oblast ................................................. Ì Zaporizhia Oblast .............................................. Ì Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ..................................... Ì Kiev Oblast ........................................................ Ì Kirovohrad Oblast ............................................. Ì Lviv Oblast ........................................................ Ì Mykolaiv Oblast ................................................ Ì Odessa Oblast .................................................... Ì Poltava Oblast ................................................... Ì Rivne Oblast ...................................................... Ì Sumy Oblast ...................................................... Ì Ternopil Oblast .................................................. Ì Kherson Oblast .................................................. Ì Khmelnytskyi Oblast .......................................... • Volunteer Battalions as “Select Teams” of Extremists ............................. Conclusion ................................................................. Introduction Introduction October 26, 2014 saw snap parliamentary election to the Supreme Rada of Ukraine (also often Verk- hovna Rada or simply Rada). The elections were held with a mixed electoral system according to which 225 of 450 deputies were elected under party lists, while the other 225 in constituencies with FPTP. The election threshold for parties was 5%. The elections resulted in the Supreme Rada embracing the ideologies of Ukrai- nian nationalism, liberalism and anti-Russian rhetoric. The quality of parliamentary work and the ability to reach compromises inevitably suffered. Major charac- teristics of the new Ukrainian parliament include radi- calization, militarization and anti-Russian focus. With the Republic of Crimea entering the Russian Federation and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics declared in the east of Ukraine1, only 198 deputies instead of 225 were elected in constituencies. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol used to have 12 single-member constituencies, while the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic had 9 and 6 respective- ly. The Supreme Rada elections came to be a stage in redesigning the system of government that began late autumn 2013. Russian, Ukrainian and European poli- ticians viewed the political crisis in Ukraine as a coup d’état or a “revolution of dignity.” According to post- 1. (Russian) А. Бедрицкий, С. Бышок, А. Кочетков. Демократия под огнём. Выборы в народных республиках Донбасса. – М.: Книжный мир, 2014. – 352 с. (Bedritskiy A, Byshok S., Kochetkov A. Democracy under Fire. ElecƟ ons in the people’s republics of Donbass. M. 2014) - 9 - Extremism in Ukrainian politics, society, media, defense and law enforcement Maidan authorities of the country, the snap parliamen- tary elections were to underpin the results of the revo- lution and to choose a parliament that would continue post-revolution reforms2. Changes in the Constitution of Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych had been toppled made the parliament of the country
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