Right Sector
Right Sector (Ukrainian: Правий сектор, Pravyi Sektor) is a Ukrainian nationalist political party and paramilitary movement, generally described as far-right.[3] It originated in November 2013 as a paramilitary confederation of several radical nationalist organizations at the Euromaidan revolt in Kiev, where its street fighters participated in clashes with riot police.[7][8] The coalition became a political party on 22 March 2014, at which time it claimed to have roughly 10,000 members.[9][10]
Right Sector Правий сектор | |
---|---|
Leader | Andriy Tarasenko[1] |
Founded | November 2013 Registered 22 May 2014 |
Merger of | Tryzub UNA–UNSO Sich Former constituents: Social-National Assembly (left in 2014) White Hammer (expelled in 2014) C14 (left in 2014) |
Headquarters | Kiev, Ukraine |
Paramilitary | Volunteered Ukrainian Corps (unofficial) |
Membership | 10,000 |
Ideology | Ukrainian nationalism[2][3] Religious conservatism[4] Anti-communism Anti-Americanism Anti-Russian Euroscepticism |
Political position | Far-right[3] |
Colors | Red, Black |
Slogan | God! Ukraine! Freedom![5] |
Verkhovna Rada[3] | 0 / 450 |
Regions (2015)[6] | 2 / 158,399 |
Website | |
pravyysektor | |
Founding groups included Trident (Tryzub), led by Dmytro Yarosh and Andriy Tarasenko; the Ukrainian National Assembly–Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA–UNSO), a political/paramilitary organization.[11][12][13] Other founding groups included the Social-National Assembly and its Patriot of Ukraine paramilitary wing, White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich. White Hammer was expelled in March 2014,[14] and in the following months Patriot of Ukraine left the organization along with many UNA-UNSO members.[15]
Right Sector's political ideology has been described as nationalist,[16][17][18][19] neofascist,[20] or far right.[21][22][23][24] 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 because of its far-right, extremist views.[25][26] However, the Associated Press found no evidence that the group had committed hate crimes.[19] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Yarosh as a Right Sector candidate won a parliament seat by winning a single-member district with 29.8% of the votes.[27] Right Sector spokesperson Boryslav Bereza as an independent candidate also won a seat and district with 29.4% of the votes.[28] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won no seats.[29]
Since 5 April 2015 Yarosh has acted as an advisor to the Ukrainian Armed Forces,[30] and on 11 November he formally stepped down as the group's leader.[31] On 27 December he announced that he and his team would be withdrawing from the group entirely, declaring that Right Sector had fulfilled its purpose 'as a revolutionary structure' and was no longer needed. He stated he and his faction were against pseudo-revolutionary activity that threatens the state, fringe radicalism, and were against violent revolts against the current government. In a statement issued by Right Sector in response to Yarosh's departure, Right Sector stated the schism was due to continuing a 'revolutionary path'.[32][33] The departure of Yarosh resulted in at least 20% of Right Sector members leaving with him.[34] In February 2016 Yarosh started a new organisation called Governmental Initiative of Yarosh.[35] Since 19 March 2016 Andriy Tarasenko is the new chairman of Right Sector.[1]
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Right Sector took part on a united (nationwide) party list with the Governmental Initiative of Yarosh, National Corps and Svoboda.[36] This combination won 2.15% of the nationwide election list vote and no seats.[29] This election the party did not win a single-mandate constituency parliamentary seat.[29]
Name
The organization's name in Ukrainian is Правий сектор (transliterated Pravyy sektor), translated as Right Sector. (General-audience publications often transliterate it as Pravy Sektor or Pravyi Sektor.) The name is derived from the group's effort to protect the right side of the Euromaidan protestors at one point during the protests.[37] Dmytro Yarosh is the owner of the trademark "Right Sector".[38]
History
Origins
Right Sector was formed in late November 2013 as a confederation of street-fighting 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.[11][12][39][40][41] The BBC reports that Right Sector's Kiev organization is primarily formed by Russian-speaking soccer fans who share nationalist views.[42][43][44]
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.[42][45] Yarosh, Right Sector's leader, has trained armed nationalists in military exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union.[46] Co-founder Andriy Tarasenko told LIGA news agency in January 2014 that most participants were "ordinary citizens not related to any organizations".[11][47]
Right Sector claims to have received donations from the Ukrainian diaspora.[10]
Entry into Euromaidan
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.[12][48] On 19 January 2014 the organization encouraged its members to bring bottles to the protests in order to produce Molotov cocktails and bombs.[11] The Yanukovich government classified it as an extremist movement and threatened its members with imprisonment.[49]
Right Sector has been described as the most organized and most effective of the Euromaidan forces when it came to confronting police.[50] Right Sector claims that it was the main organizer of violent resistance against armed attacks by the state at Euromaidan.[40] Yarosh stated that the group had amassed a sizable arsenal of weapons;[8] these include guns taken from police stations in Western Ukraine.[51]
On 4 March 2014, the organization called on readers of its Vkontakte social-media page to "correct th[e] misunderstanding" that had been created in English and Russian Wikipedia that Right Sector is fascist and neo-Nazi.[52]
According to political science professor Olexiy Haran, Right Sector's role in Ukrainian politics was "extremely exaggerated" by Ukrainians associated with Yanukovich.[25]
Recovery of the Secret Ledger
Mustafa Nayyem stated that he was with members of the Right Sector when they entered Viktor Pshonka's luxurious mansion and that the Right Sector recovered numerous GPU files from Pshonka's mansion after members of the Yanukovych government fled in exile to Russia.[53] These files included the secret bookkeeping of Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions' Black Ledger (Ukrainian: Чорної книги) or Barn Book (Ukrainian: амбарна книга) which implicated numerous persons to improper payments from pro Kremlin and pro Putin sources including Paul Manafort for which the book included the handwritten records of 22 payments over five years to Manafort, nine of which had been signed by Vitaly Anatolyevich Kalyuzhny (Ukrainian: Віталій Анатолійович Калюжний) who was the Verkhovna Rada's foreign relations committee chairman.[54][55] On August 17, 2016, Donald Trump removed Paul Manafort as Trump's campaign chairman following Trump's first national security briefing directly because of the records in the secret ledger.[56][57][58][59][60] After Donald Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election, Paul Manafort demanded that the White House, Donald Trump, and later Rudy Giuliani actively pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate and discredit Leshchenko and others because Leshchenko had published information from the Yanukovych Secret Ledger that was highly critical of Manafort's work in Ukraine.[60][61] Manafort provided information to Rudy Giuliani and his company Giulani Associates including its employees, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to smear Leshchenko and others in Ukraine and entered into a joint legal defense agreement between Manafort's attorneys and Trump's attorneys.[60] Manafort and Giuliani also discussed how to deal with Marie Yovanovitch.[60]
Aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution
Yarosh allegedly demanded to be appointed Vice Prime Minister for the law enforcement matters, but his demand was rejected; he was offered a post of the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instead,[62][63] but Yarosh rejected this position as being beneath him.[64] There were discussions of appointing Yarosh deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, but these discussions quickly petered out for unknown reasons.[62]
In February 2014, Yarosh and the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine agreed to establish a "hotline" to prevent provocations and coordinate actions when issues arise.[65][66] The group assists in the protection of Jewish sites in Odessa.[67]
Russia has cited attacks by Right Sector on Russian speakers and Jews as the main reason it sent troops into Crimea.[19]
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.[68]
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.[69] 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 drag him to Independence Square with a rope.[12]
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.[70] 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.[71] Police said he was being detained on suspicion of organized crime links, hooliganism and threatening public officials.[72][73][74]
Right Sector representatives held Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accountable for his death and vowed to avenge him.[75] On 27 March 2014, Right Sector supporters demanded Avakov's resignation and tried to storm the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament).[76] 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."[77]
A few days later the group released an app that allows its members to organize tactics at events without being identified.[78]
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.[79]
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[80] and that it had begun to form a special battalion 'Donbass' for its paramilitary operations in the War in Donbass.[81]
On 22 April 2014 pro-Russian insurgents in Slovyansk detained American journalist Simon Ostrovsky for several days on suspicion of spying for the group.[82]
Right Sector was officially registered as a political party by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on 22 May 2014.[83] 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.[84] In the 25 May 2014 presidential race Yarosh received 127,000 votes, 0.7% of the total cast.[85][86][87] In a mid-May 2014 poll by Sociological group "RATING" the party itself scored 1.7%.[88] 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".[89] 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.[90] In the 26 October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Yarosh as a Right Sector candidate won a parliament seat by winning single-member district number 39 located in Vasylkivka Raion with 29.76% of the votes.[27] The party had competed in 35 districts.[91] Yarosh did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).[92] In the same election, Boryslav Bereza, Right Sector's chief of information, also won a seat as an independent candidate by winning a district in Kiev with 29.44% of the votes.[28] Bereza also did not join a faction.[93] Right Sector did not take part in the October 2015 Ukrainian local elections.[94]
2015 clash with Ukraine's special security service
On July 10, 2015, Ukrainian government forces clashed with Right Sector forces in the city of Mukacheve, located in Western Ukraine. Two people were killed. According to President Poroshenko's parliamentary faction leader Yuriy Lutsenko, these events "result[ed from] the conflict of interests between illegal armed groups and a mafia overtly cooperating with law enforcers." [95] Some local leaders indicated the conflict ensued when Right Sector forces attempted to clamp down on the lucrative illegal cigarette smuggling trade to Western Europe, in which local law enforcement have been complicit. Immediate fallout from the events included the sacking of the leadership of the local Zakarpatya district customs service. Ukrainian MP Mykhailo Lanyo, fingered in the smuggling ring, reportedly fled Ukraine.[96] Right Sector leader Yarosh called for calm, and denied that Right Sector troops were being withdrawn from eastern Ukraine.[97][98][99][100]
After Yarosh's departure
Yarosh resigned as Right Sector leader on 11 November 2015.[31] Late December 2015 he announced that he was forming a new political party that would start in February 2016.[101] In February 2016 he started a new organisation called Governmental Initiative of Yarosh.[35] The departure of Yarosh resulted in at least 20% of Right Sector members leaving with him.[34] At a party congress of 19 March 2016 Andriy Tarasenko was elected chairman of Right Sector.[1] Before Euromaidan he and Yarosh were the leading figures of Trident (Tryzub).[13] Tarasenko vowed in March 2016 that Right Sector would take part in all elections in Ukraine.[1]
On 19 November 2018 Right Sector and fellow Ukrainian nationalist political organizations Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and C14 endorsed Ruslan Koshulynskyi candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[102] In the election Koshulynskyi received 1.6% of the votes.[103]
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Right Sector joined a united party list with the political parties Svoboda, Governmental Initiative of Yarosh and National Corps.[36] Yarosh was placed 3rd on this party list, Tarasenko 4th.[36] But in the election they won 2.15% of the votes, less than half if the 5% election threshold, and thus no parliamentary seats via the national party list.[29] The party did also not win a single-mandate constituency parliamentary seat.[29]
Paramilitary operations
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.[104] 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.[50] 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.[10] Petro Poroshenko in an interview with DW English in late 2015, claimed that Right Sector was going to be disarmed and taken out of operations in Donbass, but still hasn't done so as of 2017.[105]
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
Right Sector has its own volunteer battalion that is fighting in the War in Donbass.[106] It was formed late April 2014.[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.[107] Right Sector lost twelve fighters when ambushed outside Donetsk in August 2014. Yarosh, the group's leader, vowed his group would avenge the deaths.[108] On 17 August 2014 Right Sector accused the Interior Ministry of harbouring counterrevolutionary forces seeking to destroy the Ukrainian volunteer movement.[109] 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.[110] Interior Minister Arsen Avakov replied, saying that he had already submitted a request to President Poroshenko that Yevdokimov be dismissed.[111] Right Sector's military unit includes about fifty citizens of Russia and Belarus.[112] Members come from all parts of Ukraine, including the Donbass and Crimea; Russia; other former Soviet republics; and Western countries. In December 2015, group leader Dmytro Yarosh announced that the 5th and 8th battalions, and the medical battalion, would be incorporated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine following his departure from Right Sector.[33] The UVC, if possible, would become part of the National Guard of Ukraine and will in the near future report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or would be merged as part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Ideology
Description by the party
The party's ideology is based on the Ukrainian national idea.[5] 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".[5] 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.[5]
Ukrainian nationalism is
- An ideology of national freedom, freedom of people and person[5]
- An idea and cause in the name of Ukraine[5]
- An ideology of defense, preservation, and state assertion of the Ukrainian nation[5]
- A philosophy of national existence[5]
The main component of Right Sector's natiocentric outlook is natio-existential Shevchenko Thought,[5] based on protection, development, and revival of the nation based on national imperative or absolute order.[5]
According to its literature, an idealistic worldview is intrinsic to Ukrainian nationalism.[5]
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.[40] 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.[113] 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.[114] (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".[115]
Descriptions in the press
Right Sector has been described by BBC News as a "Ukrainian nationalist group"[18] and an "umbrella organization of far-right groups".[116] Time has described it as a "radical right-wing group ... a coalition of militant ultra-nationalists",[21] with an ideology that "borders on fascism".[8] The New York Times has described it as a "nationalist group" and a "coalition of once-fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups".[17]
The Guardian has identified it as a "nationalist Ukrainian group";[117] Reuters as a "far-right nationalist group";[118] Agence France Presse as a "far-right" group;[24] and the Wall Street Journal as an "umbrella group for far-right activists and ultranationalists".[119]
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, but also that is distanced itself from antisemitism.[20][39][42]
Writing for Foreign Policy, Hannah Kozlowska 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.[25]
The Associated Press has called it a "radical ultranationalist group ... demonized by Russian state propaganda as fascists".[19] The AP reported that it had found no evidence of hate crimes by the group.[19]
The Russian News & Information Agency has portrayed 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".[22]
The RT (formerly Russia Today) TV News network has said that it is a "Ukrainian radical neo-fascist" group.[80]
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."[120] Tarasenko cited Stepan Bandera, stating: "We are enemies to those saying that there [is] no Ukraine, or Ukrainians, or … Ukrainian language."[121]
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.[12] 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.[39] According to Spiegel Online, Dmytro Yarosh has stated that anti-semitism is not a part of Right Sector's ideology.
Tarasenko has stated that the group has no "phobias", that it respects every other nation, and that it supports the nation state model.[121]
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.[122] 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."[123]
Attitude towards Europe
Right Sector's website says that its members distrust the "imperial ambitions" of both Russia and the West.[124] 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.[125] He does not see Europe or NATO as a potential partner and believes that they are part of a coalition against Ukraine.[125]
Domestic policy
Right Sector has the position that the population should keep and bear arms, as in Switzerland.[121] Yarosh told the New York Times that the organization's lawyers were drafting a bill modeled on Swiss notions of firearms possession.[104]
Moral issues
According to historian and political scientist Andreas Umland Right Sector is ultra-Christian conservative and radical nationalist.[4]
On 2 June 2015 the party sent an open letter to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko asking him to cancel a pride parade to be held two days later citing "danger of provocations".[126] The letter also quoted Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk stating "Ukraine rejects the false values as gender ideology".[127] The letter also claimed Europeans still have an ambiguous attitude about "LGBT" stating "in Poland abortion is banned in general, not to mention same-sex marriages".[127] In a Facebook post Right Sector leader Yarosh claimed the gay pride parade "spit on the graves of those who died and defended Ukraine"; and he promised that the group's members will "put aside other business in order to prevent those who hate family, morality, and human nature, from executing their plans. We have other things to do, but we'll have to deal with this evil too," he wrote.[128] Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadskyi stated about the pride parade "gay propaganda is destructive and doing harm to our Christian nation, we can't allow that".[128] The pride parade was held; during the march five policemen were injured in scuffles after unidentified people attacked the rally with smoke bombs and stones.[129] Right Sector denounced the violence; Skoropadskyi stated about it "We can't beat weak persons like gays – that's a disgrace!".[4]
Component groups
Academic and media sources have described some of Right Sector's constituent groups as nationalist,[16][130] ultranationalist,[39][131] neofascist,[42] neo-Nazi,[39][113] right-wing,[42] far right,[114][132][133] ultraconservative,[40] or paramilitary. A plurality or majority of Right Sector's members belong to street fighting soccer-fan clubs[43][44][134] or have no specific affiliation.
Sich
Sich (Carpathian Sich, Карпатська Січ) is a Cossack battalion from Transcarpathia. Its name derives from the Ukrainian Cossack term for a command and administrative center.[120][135]
Tryzub (Trident)
Tryzub is a far-right[8] Ukrainian paramilitary organization founded in 1993 by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (former Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists).[136] Its full name is the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization ″Tryzub″. It states that its main goal is to create a Ukrainian united independent state. 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″.[137]
Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense
The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA–UNSO) is a Ukrainian political organization perceived as far-right in Ukraine and abroad.[138][139] The faction supplied a volunteer battalion that in 1993 participated in the War in Abkhazia, which was depicted in a documentary film "Shadows of War" by Georgiy Gongadze. While the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) acted as the organization's legal political party - wing, on 22 May 2014 it merged into Right Sector.[83] The UNA-UNSO continues to operate independently.
Legal status
After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, many volunteers formed their own groups as territorial defense battalions. However, these battalions were legal parts of various Ukrainian security agencies, most of them serving under the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior. Their volunteers were 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.[140][141]
The status of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps is not official.
Election results
Verkhovna Rada
Year | Popular vote | % of popular vote | Overall seats won | Seat change | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 284.943 | 1.80 #12 | 1 / 450 |
Opposition | |
2019 | 315,530 | 2.15 #11 | 0 / 450 |
Extra-parliamentary | |
Presidential elections
Election year | Candidate | # of 1st round votes | % of 1st round vote | # of 2nd round votes | % of 2nd round vote |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Dmytro Yarosh | 127,772 | 0.70 #11 | — | — |
2019 | Ruslan Koshulynskyi | 307,240 | 1.62 #9 | — | — |
References
- Right Sector declares ambitious plans to partake in elections, UNIAN (23 March 2016)
(in Ukrainian) "Right Sector" elected new chairman, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 March 2016) - "Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector". BBC. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
- Nordsieck, Wolfram (2014). "Ukraine". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- Andersen, Johannes Wamberg; Olena Goncharova; Stefan Huijboom (11 June 2015). "Equal rights for gays still distant dream in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
- Короткий ідеологічно-виховний курс для ВО "Тризуб" та "Правого сектора" [Short ideologically-training course for VO "Tryzub" and "Right Sector"]. Right Sector website (in Ukrainian). 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014.
- Центральна виборча комісія України - відображення ІАС "Місцеві вибори 2015" [Central Election Commission of Ukraine - AIS display "Local Elections 2015"]. Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- 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."
- 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….
- 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…
- Nemtsova, Anna (19 March 2014). "Yarosh: Russians, rise up against Putin!". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
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.'
- "Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest". BBC News. 1 February 2014.
The Right Sector is a radical nationalist opposition group[...] 'But most participants are just ordinary citizens having no relation to any organisations,' he [Tarasenko] said."
- 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…
- (in Russian)Behind the scenes of Right Sector, Ukrayinska Pravda (1 April 2014)
- 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.
- Shekhovtsov, Anton (May 2015). "The spectre of Ukrainian 'fascism': Information wars, political manipulation, and reality": 85. Retrieved 19 May 2015. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - 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….
- 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….
- "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'.
- Danilova, Maria (March 14, 2014). "After Ukraine protest, radical group eyes power". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2014-03-20.
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.
- 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.
- 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….
- "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.
- 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.
- "Ukraine paramilitary group forms political party". Agence France Presse. 22 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 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).
- 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….
- "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….
- Кандидати на мажоритарних округах - Одномандатный избирательный округ № 39 [Candidates in majority districts - Single-mandate constituency № 39] (in Russian). RBK Ukraine. 26 October 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014.
"Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014: Data on vote counting at precincts within single-mandate districts". Central Election Commission of Ukraine. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. - Кандидати на мажоритарних округах: Одномандатный избирательный округ № 213 [Candidates for single-mandate constituencies: single-mandate constituency № 213] (in Ukrainian). RBK Ukraine. 25 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014., RBK Ukraine
(in Ukrainian) Boryslav Bereza very short bio, RBK Ukraine
Video of first brawl in Verkhovna Rada becomes a YouTube hit, Kyiv Post (5 December 2014) - CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
(in Russian) Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019, Ukrayinska Pravda (21 July 2019) - "Defense Ministry: Yarosh to be Armed Forces Commander in Chief's advisor". Interfax-Ukraine. April 6, 2015.
Ukrainian General Staff Chief Viktor Muzhenko has agreed to appoint Dmytro Yarosh, the leader of Right Sector, as an advisor to the Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander in Chief, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on April 5 evening.
- Yarosh quits as Right Sector leader, Interfax Ukraine (11 November 2015)
Right Sector chief Yarosh resigns, cedes leadership role of group, Kyiv Post (11 November 2015) - "Новини". Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- "Loading..." ps-zahid.info. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- "Yarosh launches a new movement, leaves Right Sector - Feb. 22, 2016". 22 February 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- "Ukraine's Political Volatility Extends Beyond Kiev". Stratfor. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- (in Ukrainian) Yarosh, Tyagnibok and Biletsky have all formed a single list for the elections, Glavcom (9 June 2019)
- Pastushenko, Andriy (April 10, 2014). Про початок Майдану і Правого Сектору [About the beginning of the Maidan and Right Sector] (video) (Speech). Press conference (in Ukrainian). Maidan Press Center, Kiev.
It began to rain, and you understand that the police were then panicking at even a single move toward setting up tents. The girls tried to unwrap the usual oilcloth, and the police immediately tore it... Volodya Stretovych, speaking from the podium, then shouted through the microphone: 'Nationalist-guys, hold the right sector, that protects the right side!'
- "Новини - Українська правда". pda.pravda.com.ua. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- Higgins, Andrew (8 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.
- Andreas Umland; Anton Shekhovtsov (July 2014). "Ukraine's Radical Right". Journal of Democracy. 25 (3): 59–60. doi:10.1353/jod.2014.0051. Retrieved 21 July 2014 – via Project Muse.
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.
- Krasnolutska, Daryna; Verbyany, Volodymyr (11 February 2014). "Ukraine radicals steer violence as nationalist zeal grows". Bloomberg.
- "Die radikale ukrainische Gruppe Rechter Sektor" [The radical Ukrainian group Right Sector]. Die Welt (in German). 22 February 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
Right Sector (Pravy Sektor) is an informal association of right-wing and neo-fascist factions.
- "Profile: Ukraine's 'Right Sector' movement". BBC News. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
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.
- 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.
- Baranova, Maria (4 March 2014). "No one has done more for Ukrainian nationalism than Vladimir Putin". The New Republic. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- Klußmann, Uwe (3 March 2014). "Conflict with Russia". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
- "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.
- Radicals a wild card in Ukraine's protests, The Washington Post (2 February 2014)
- 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.
- 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'.
- 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….
- Sabina Zawadzki; Mark Hosenball; Stephen Gray (7 March 2014). "In Ukraine, nationalists gain influence - and scrutiny". Reuters. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- "Матеріали справи проти Тимошенко можуть бути у "Правого сектора" - Найєм" [The case against Tymoshenko may be with the Right Sector - Nayem]. Ukrayinska Pravda. April 15, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Лещенко, Сергей; Марчук, Антон; Мусаева-Боровик, Севгиль (Leshchenko, Serhiy; Marchuk, Anton; Musayeva-Borovik, Sevgil) (May 31, 2016). "Рукописи не горят. Черная бухгалтерия Партии регионов: фамилии, даты, суммы" [Manuscripts do not burn. Party of Regions Black Bookkeeping: surnames, dates, amounts]. Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Kramer, Andrew E. (May 2, 2018). "Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation". NYT. Archived from the original on September 27, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Kramer, Andrew E.; McIntire, Mike; Meier, Barry (August 14, 2016). "Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump's Campaign Chief". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Dilanian, Ken; Windrem, Robert (August 17, 2016). "Donald Trump Receives First Intelligence Briefing". NBC News. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Vasilyeva, Nataliya (August 19, 2016). "Ukraine secret documents show $12.7 million in payments for Manafort". PBS Newshour. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Abou-Sabe, Kenzi; Winter, Tom; Tucker, Max (June 27, 2017). "What Did Ex-Trump Aide Paul Manafort Really Do in Ukraine?". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Waas, Murray (September 25, 2019). "Trump, Giuliani, and Manafort: The Ukraine Scheme". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Waas, Murray (8 October 2019). "Ukraine Continued: How a Crucial Witness Escaped". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- Nayyem, Mustafa (1 April 2014). "За кулисами Правого сектора". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
Сам Дмитро Ярош нібито вимагав для себе посади віце-прем'єра з питань силового блоку з одночасним підпорядкуванням йому внутрішніх військ. Вимогу відхилили, запропонувавши йому посаду заступника секретаря РНБОУ. ... Ще три тижні тому у владних коридорах обережно обговорювався також варіант призначення лідера Правого сектору заступником голови СБУ, але згодом з невідомих причин ці обговорення припинились.
- Olearchyk, Roman (26 February 2014). "Arseniy Yatseniuk poised to become Ukraine prime minister". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
Andriy Parubiy, a lawmaker who served as commander of the protest movement's guards, was chosen to serve as chair of the national security and defence council. Victoria Siumar, a civil society activist, and Dmytro Yarosh, head of Right Sector, a militant protest group, were proposed as his deputies.
- 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.
- "'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.
- "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.
- "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.
- "'Right Sector' is becoming a party and Yarosh is going for the presidency". Українська правда. Kiev. March 7, 2014.
- "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….
- 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….
- "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….'
- 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…
- Interior Ministry: Right Sector coordinator Muzhychko killed in shootout with police Kyiv Post Retrieved on March 25, 2014
- "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.
- "Nationalists threaten Ukrainian top cop with 'revenge' over far-right leader murder". RT (Russia Today). TV-Novosti. 25 March 2014.
- "Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector". BBC. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
- "STATEMENT by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on recent events around the Parliament of Ukraine". European Union.
- "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….
- "'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….
- "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.
- Yarosh assembles 'Donbas' special battalion, Kyiv Post (April 24, 2014)
Ukraine's extremists forming battalion in Donetsk region, ITAR-TASS (April 24, 2014) - 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.
- "Right Sector registered as official party". Interfax-Ukraine. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- 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.
- "Poroshenko wins presidential election with 54.7% of vote - CEC". Radio Ukraine International. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014.
Внеочередные выборы Президента Украины [Extraordinary elections of the President of Ukraine] (in Russian). telegraf.com.ua. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. - "Poroshenko leads in presidential race with 54.45% of votes after 95.05% of electronic voting reports processed – CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 27 May 2014.
- "Results of voting in Ukraine, Extraordinary elections of President of Ukraine, 25 May 2014". Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 28 May 2014.
- (in Ukrainian) Social and political attitudes of the population: May 2014, Sociological group "RATING" (20 May 2014)
- (in Ukrainian) "Right sector" promises to investigate who and why stormed the Kyiv prosecutor's office, Ukrayinska Pravda (13 June 2014)
- Authorities promise to thoroughly investigate into facts of blocking Zaporizhstal, Kyiv Post (Oct. 21, 2014)
- (in Ukrainian) Candidates for constituency for Right Sector in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, RBK Ukraine
- (in Ukrainian) Yarosh's profile, Verkhovna Rada official website
- (in Ukrainian) Bereza's profile, Verkhovna Rada official website
- Five lessons from the local elections in Ukraine by Andrew Wilson, European Council on Foreign Relations (29 October 2015)
- "Yuriy Lutsenko: Mukacheve incident is a collision between mafia and militants". KyivPost. July 13, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
- "Lanyo, involved in Mukacheve shooting, flees Ukraine due to MP immunity". unian.info. July 24, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
- Moscow, Alec Luhn in. "Ukraine government in armed standoff with nationalist militia". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
- "Ukraine's security forces negotiating with holed up Right Sector fighters". KyivPost. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
- "Right sector in Ukraine takes 6-year-old hostage – standoff with police". Retrieved 2015-07-13.
- "Four civilians, three policemen injured in shootout in Mukacheve, Ukrainian interior minister reports". KyivPost. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
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- (in Ukrainian) The nationalists have been identified with a presidential candidate, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 November 2018)
- Zelenskiy wins first round but that’s not the surprise, Atlantic Council (4 April 2019)
- 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….
- http://www.dw.com/en/petro-poroshenko-im-sure-about-the-unity-of-the-eu-and-its-solidarity-with-ukraine/a-18832626. DW English interview with Petro Poroshenko, (11 November 2015).
- "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.
- "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.'
- Zinets, Natalia (13 August 2014). "Twelve Ukrainian nationalist fighters killed in separatist ambush". Reuters.
- "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.
- 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….
- "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.
- Sukhov, Oleg (24 April 2015). "Foreigners Who Fight And Die For Ukraine: Russians join Ukrainians to battle Kremlin in Donbas". Kyiv Post.
- 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.'"
- 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.
- Ukraine's parliament to remain a rowdy place, Associated Press via Yahoo! News (28 October 2014)
- 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….
- 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…
- 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…
- 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.
- 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.'
- Azar, Ilya (10 March 2014). B0Мы — не вооруженные силы": Интервью с одним из лидеров украинского "Правого сектора" ['We are not the armed forces': Interview with one of the leaders of the Ukrainian 'Right Sector']. 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.…'
- 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.
- Nikitin, Andrei (28 July 2014). У Дніпропетровську "Правий сектор" і єврейська громада мітингували на підтримку Ізраїлю [In Dnepropetrovsk, Right Sector and the Jewish community rallied in support of Israel]. 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.'
- 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.
- 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."). - (in Ukrainian) Klitschko asked not to carry out "March of Equality" in Kiev, Ukrayinska Pravda (4 June 2015)
- A letter to the mayor of Kyiv to hold so-called "March of Equality", Right Sector official website (2 June 2015)
- Right Sector threatens Kyiv gay pride march, Kyiv Post (6 June 2015)
- Ukraine police hurt at Kiev gay pride rally, BBC News (6 June 2015)
- 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.
- G.C. (15 February 2014). "Ukraine's protestors: Maidan on my mind". The 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[...]
- 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.
- https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/13/the-mess-that-nuland-made/
- Way, Lucan (July 2014). "Civil Society and Democratization". Journal of Democracy. 25 (3). doi:10.1353/jod.2014.0042 – via Project Muse.
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.
- "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.
- Likhachev, Viacheslav (September–October 2013). "Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise in Ukraine". Russian Politics and Law. 51 (5). doi:10.2753/RUP1061-1940510503. ISSN 1558-0962.
Other notable ultraright groups in Ukraine include the Trident named in honor of Stepan Bandera (based on the Congress of Ukrainian Na- tionalists)...
- Декларація наших принципів (in Ukrainian). Тризуб. Archived from the original on 2014-02-09.
- Singh, Anita Inder (2001), Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Security in Post-Communist Europe, Greenwood, p. 114
- Dymerskaya-Tsigelman, Liudmila; Finberg, Leonid (1999), "Antisemitism of the Ukrainian Radical Nationalists: Ideology and Policy", Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism, Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (14)
- "Ukraine Right Sector threatens Poroshenko with Yanukovich's fate". RT.
- ""Right sector" is registered as a social organization and not as a political party". ipress.