Ukraine’s far-right leader moves HQ to the east, forms new squadron
Ukrainian radical neo-fascist Right Sector group has moved its main headquarters from Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk to “closely monitor” the developments in the east, its leader said, announcing the formation of yet another paramilitary squadron in Ukraine.
“I moved my headquarters to Dnepropetrovsk. The purpose is to prevent the spread of the Kremlin infection,” Ukrainian presidential candidate and Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh announced at a press conference in Dnepropetrovsk.
He says the vital industrial city in Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk provides a better platform to observe the situation in Donbass where pro-federalization protests are flourishing, after the coup in Kiev.
Yarosh, placed by Russia on an international most wanted terrorist list, also announced that he started forming a special squad of fighters called “Donbass.”
“We coordinate all of our actions with the leadership of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security service of Ukraine,” Yarosh said.
Local media reports that the unit will comprise about 800 fighters. Any military trained adults could volunteer to join the unit, as long as they meet the requirements.
The move follows a similar announcement in Dnepropetrovsk region, whose Kiev-appointed governor and oligarch Igor Kolomoysky recently formed a special battalion “Dnepr” formed of “local patriots of Ukraine.”
Both battalions are part of the special force which is being formed to stabilize and take the situation under control in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, as announced earlier by Ukraine’s coup-installed millionaire turned Interior minister Arsen Avakov.
“The new structure of special divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the answer to saboteurs, ‘green little men’ and to the other gangs tasked with attacking statehood and integrity of Ukraine,” Avakov said earlier in April, stating his ministry was ready to employ and legalize as many as 12,000 volunteers across the country.
On Wednesday, in an exclusive interview to RT, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, once again reiterated the worrying expansion of the Right Sector. He sees the existence and the expansion of the neo-Nazi group as a violation of last week's Geneva accords.
“In Geneva we agreed that there must be total rejection of extremists and the Right Sector is still very active, and after Geneva the Right Sector staged provocations killing several people in the vicinity of Slavyansk during Easter Sunday. So nothing which was agreed in Geneva and which certainly is for the authorities in Kiev to start implementing was done by them,” Lavrov said.
In response to Yarosh's announcement, the mayor of Slovyansk Vyacheslav Ponomarev told Gazeta that formation of such a battalion “could lead to a fratricidal war.”
The leader of the Ukrainian radical group, Right Sector Dmitry Yarosh, was placed on an international wanted list in March and charged with inciting terrorism.
Yarosh, who leads the far-right militant Right Sector group, has always been anti-Russian in his statements, calling for the destruction and division of the “Moscow Empire” and openly supporting Chechen militants and Georgian aggression. Yarosh believes that Russia is Ukraine’s “eternal foe” and that a war between the two countries is “inevitable.”
The Right Sector was formed in November 2013 soon after the anti-government protests in Ukraine began. Members of the radical movement were very active in the violent events which led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich.
The group has been referred to as the most active, the most radical and the best organized group in the Ukrainian unrest. Many of its violent acts have been well-documented by media and in videos posted on YouTube.
