‘Right Sector's atrocities in Odessa to backfire on them’

Right Sector’s bloody atrocities in Odessa weren’t designed just to draw Russia into open conflict, but, more importantly, to send a message to other protesters that they’ll be killed if they continue opposing, Serbian historian, Nebojsa Malic, told RT.

Over last weekend, the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine witnessed terrible events, with dozens of people dead and injured. On Friday afternoon around 1,500 supporters of the Kiev authorities, accompanied by aggressive fans of the local football club, Chernomorets, tried to march through the center of the city chanting “Glory to Ukraine,” “Death to enemies,” “Knife the Moskals” [derogatory term for Russians], where they clashed with proponents of federalization. Some of the people in the pro-Kiev group were wearing ultra-nationalist Right Sector insignia. The fighting was accompanied by stone-throwing, Molotov cocktails and smoke grenades, directed at each other and the police. Later some of the anti-government protesters burned to death when pro-Kiev radicals set the local House of Trade Unions on fire, trapping them inside.

RT:During the crisis in Ukraine, we've seen a lot of provocations. But in this case we clearly see people hiding behind police shields, clearly cooperating with police. What do you make of that?

Nebojsa Malic: According to all the evidence that I have seen, the entire thing in Odessa was a giant false flag operation. It was a provocation, it was one of those stage massacres that the pro-Western forces from Bosnia to Kosovo, now Ukraine excel at staging, intended to draw Russia to overreact to commit military forces so that the coup government as well as its sponsors in the West could have justification in saying, “Oh that is the case of Russian invasion, and everything we have been saying is correct.” I believe that the fact that they are willing to stage such a horrendous atrocity shows the depth of their desperation at this point.

RT:Who do you think these people actually are? Because anyone can put on pro-Russian symbols like the St George ribbon...

NM: It’s remarkably easy to pose as pro-Russian. There were reports last week of people wearing St George’s ribbons, trying to infiltrate towns in the East… I believe, Lugansk and Donetsk… and they were caught by the locals who recognized these outsiders as Right Sector people. I would imagine these are Right Sector people deployed to Odessa in order to both create a powerful atrocity to draw Russia into open conflict and intimidate any sort of population that is against the coup government by saying, “Look, if you continue opposing us, we’ll murder you in the most gruesome manner possible.” I think it’s going to backfire on them, but I’m fairly convinced that these people are loyal to the regime in Kiev.

RT:Well whatever else you can say about what happened, it's clearly not benefiting anti-government protesters, because it’s their comrades who were burned alive. How is it that it's them who are being accused of provocations?

NM: For a proper false flag attack you have to have a scapegoat, so ideally in order to deflect the guilt from the actual perpetrators you say, “Oh, these were people minding their own business who were ruthlessly provoked by these evil pro-Russian thugs” as some European politicians have called them. Then of course it’s perfectly justified to go ahead and do what they did. And it’s not, it can’t be so. I would imagine that this was all part of the orchestrated propaganda scenario on part of the coup regime.

RT:What can you say about the way the police were behaving that day?

NM: The behavior of the police if taken at face value is very baffling, because if they were supposedly cooperating with these alleged pro-Russian activists why did they stand by and allow Right Sector thugs to surround the building and burn alive 40 plus people, it doesn’t compute. Obviously, if the police in Odessa are loyal to the coup government and they were seen with these alleged pro-Russian activists, Occam's razor dictates that these were nor actual pro-Russian activists, but rather false flag operatives in cahoots with police.

RT:Everyone is looking at the footage and photographs from that day in Odessa now and coming to different conclusions. Why is it like this?

NM: Because of the attitude in the Western media that sees only what it wants to see and it does not matter what is done and who does it to whom. The premises are preventing people from reaching the correct conclusions, they essentially ban the facts that fit the premises as oppose to examining the facts and proceeding with conclusions from there. To an outside observer, who is not burdened by these premises, clearly, if the police are loyal to the regime and they are conspiring with the activists, the activists cannot be possibly be a caution to the police, it’s impossible. So when you examine the evidence it clearly points to the conclusion that this was a setup intended to accuse Russians and provoke Russia into intervening. Obviously the people who are behind this do not want this conclusion to be made and are trying to say “It was all the Russians fault,”“The Right Sector thugs acted in self-defense” and “Any sort of Russian intervention will be an active aggression.” Again, this is a propaganda set up and in such a propaganda set up the facts don’t matter as much as perceptions. What they are trying to do here is to manage perceptions.

RT:What do you think the fallout from this tragedy in Odessa will be?

NM: I don’t think it is going to produce immediately what the creators of the tragedy planned on. They were counting on an immediate visceral Russian reflexive response, a sort of unconscious lashing out, which again points to provocation because it’s exactly what the Western governments tend to do when things like this happen. I believe Russia’s reaction will be measured as it has been so far, and the perpetrators of this will be brought to justice eventually. But I think it is going to be on the terms of the Russian government and the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, and not on the terms of the coup government and their sponsors on the West.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.