Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, the nation’s top cop, said that arrest warrants have been issued for Yanukovych and other former government officials.” He did not name the other former officials wanted by police.
Others who have gone into hiding, however, including former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and former presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev, who is believed to have fled with Yanukovych and a small entourage of security guards and possibly the ex-president’s girlfriend, Lyubov Polezhay.
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The investigation centers on whether Yanukovych and other top former officials hired snipers or ordered riot police to shoot EuroMaidan demonstrators in January and February.
Nearly 100 civilians have been killed in the demonstrations, including at least 75 people from Feb. 18-20, triggering Yanukovych’s flight from Kyiv and subsequent impeachment from office by parliament on Feb. 22. His whereabouts since then have been traced to Kharkiv, Donetsk and finally to Crimea before authorities lost the trail to him. He is believed to have access to residences and boats on the southern peninsula.
New prosecutor general identifies more than 50 suspects in mass killings of protesters
More than 50 suspects, among them top-level law-enforcement officials, figure in the case of mass shootings of demonstrators in Kyiv. “An inquiry launched against top state and law enforcement officials for organizing mass killings targets about 50 persons, among them top-level law-enforcement officials,” Oleh Makhnitsky, who was appointed Ukraine’s prosecutor general on Feb. 24, said from the parliamentary rostrum.
Herman, longtime Yanukovych loyalist, says: ‘I now can’t help him with anything’
Hanna Herman, a member of parliament with the Party of Regions and a close ally of the disgraced former president, said she spoke to him when he was in Kharkiv on Feb. 22, but hasn’t heard from him since. Even she tried to put some distance between herself and her former boss.
“I wasn’t a supporter of president’s policy. I was rather supporter of the president as a person. We have no right to blame only him alone. It’s easy to blame the one who is out of power,” Herman said. “People whom he made close to him, I mean some young people, made lots of harm for the president. But I now can’t help him with anything.
Herman also said that she “didn’t hear Viktor Fedorovych” give any order to kill protesters who wanted his resignation. “If I had heard that, I wouln’t call him a good person. And a good person and a good president are two different things.”
Moskal says Moscow assisted with plan to violently suppress protests
Hennady Moskal, a Batkivshchyna Party politician and former deputy interior minister, claims to have uncovered documents outlining special operations to violently suppress the EuroMaidan demonstrations. The documents alleged that Russian officials served as advisers in how to carry out the operations.
The operations had the code name “Wave” and “Boomerang.” Their goal was to disperse the mass protests and capture the protesters’ headquarters in the House of Trade Unions on Kyiv’s Independence Square.
The documents show that the snipers on Instytutska Street near Ukraine’s government district were special units of Interior Ministry troops, led by a colonel and soliders with a special Omega unit. According to the documents, former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko gave the order to use weapons to the Sokil unit, the main department of combating organized crimes.
According to the documents, the former first deputy of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia stayed at the Kyiv Hotel and helped with preparations, getting paid by the Security Services of Ukraine. Russian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Losing trail to fugitive Yanukovych
Avakov said that authorities lost Yanukovych’s trail early on Feb. 24 near his residence in the Balaklava district of Crimea where he released his secret service guards from duty.
According to Avakov, Yanukovych former presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev and a group of state security guards who chose to stay with him left the scene in three vehicles in an unknown direction turning off all modes of communication.
Avakov said that he and acting Security Service of Ukraine head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko were up all night in Crimea in search of the ex-president.
He said Yanukovych and Andriy Klyuyev on Feb. 21 flew by helicopter from Kyiv to Kharkiv in order to take part in a Party of Regions congress there.
The next day, after spending the night in a state residence, he decided not attend the event, recorded the video that was shown over the weekend, and flew by helicopter in to the Donetsk Airport. He and his security detail then boarded two Dassault Falcon private planes. After the border service prevented his departure, Yanukovych spent a few hours at a state residence in Donetsk.
Late on Feb. 22, Yanukovych’s motorcade headed for Crimea unescorted by the state traffic police. He arrived in Crimea on Feb. 23 where he visited a private resort “intentionally ignoring state residences,” stated Avakov.
Avakov also said a criminal case has been opened against Yevhen Zhylyn, the head of a pro-government militant group in Kharkiv.
Called Oplot, the organization made headlines when it released a video on YouTube featuring Zhylyn bragging that the group had cut the ear of an AutoMaidan member. He also called on men and women to “get ready for bloodshed.”
Among the injuries that AutoMaidan leader Dmytro Bulatov sustained during his eight-day kidnapping in January was having a part of his ear cut off.
Oplot then became part of Ukrainian Front, a movement founded by Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, Governor Mykhailo Dobkin and other Party of Regions members to support ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. The formation came at a time of daily street clashes between protesters and police.
Glavkom reports that Ilyin, armed forces chief of staff, refused orders for military crackdown
Glavkom is reporting that acting Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev ordered Yuriy Ilyin, the armed forces chief of staff, to moving military units from Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Ochakiv to Kyiv. Ilyin had made plans to use at least 2,500 soldiers against the EuroMaidan protesters who allegedly had planned to seize some military installations. The soldiers would have been empowered to detain citizens, check documents, restrict traffic and enter citizens’ homes if they were suspected of harboroing so-called terrorists. They also planned to use weapons. According to Glavkom, llyin said that the army remained loyal to the Ukrainian people and refused to be involved in the political conflict on Feb. 22, the day Yanukovych fled and parliament impeached him. The news website also reported that Ilyin insisted that he will not fulfill criminal orders. The entire Glavkom article in Ukrainin is here.
Yefremov says Party of Regions is now an opposition force
Meanwhile, Oleksandr Yefremov, the head of the Party of Regions, announced on Feb. 24 that the formerly pro-presidential party is joining the opposition to the new interim government formed and led by acting president Oleksandr Turchynov
“The Party of Regions faction members had a meeting. Since you’ve taken over power and you have all the chances to form new coalition government, we decided to go into the opposition,” Yefremov said. “We took a decision that we are going in opposition.”
After Yefremov’s remarks, member of parliament Oleg Liashko shouted at him and accused the Party of Regions loyal to Yanukovych of the recent bloodshed in Ukraine.
Yanukovych’s Party of Regions denounces his ‘cowardly flight’
Yefremov’s move into the opposition doesn’t mean, however, that the Party of Regions approves of what its former leader did or his doing. A Feb. 23 statement on the Party of Regions website condemns the fugive ex-leader’s “cowardly flight.”
It also reads in part: “We condemn the betrayal. We condemn the criminal orders, which framed the common people, police and militants. The efforts to destabilize the situation in the regions are not acceptable in a democratic society.” In the statement, the Party of Regions also stressed that they “are normal people who represent the interests of more than 10 million Ukrainian citizens.” The Party of Regions members of parliament also said they would protect Ukrainian citizens from crimes “that have been made at the top.”
Arbuzov, former acting prime minister, resurfaces
London analyst Timothy Ash noted: Former acting prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov, considered one of fugitive ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s inner circle known as “the family,” seems to be “pitching for a position in the new government. Incredibly, from his sick bed. Two seperate sources have suggested to me that Arbuzov is currently in Moscow. Not sure how long Arbuzov is slated to be the in the job, he still seems to be representing, but the opposition is set to elect a new prime minister and Cabinet of Ministers tomorrow. he threats now from Moscow are really escalating, arguing that its views, and those of people in eastern and southern Ukraine must be taken into account, accusing the opposition of terrorist and dictatorial methods. It calls now for a referendum on constitutional reform – but remember that Moscow has previously argued that it is not intervening in Ukrainian affairs. And the risk of intervention in the Crimea are still there. Moscow’s game plan now seems to be to threaten the West, and Ukraine, that if its interests in the new Ukrainian coalition are not taken into account, then it will not be a constructive partner. It seems to be trying to promote people like Arbuzov to join the cabinet. This is just a non-sttarter from EuroMaidan’s perspective.” The government’s official website seems to be working here.
Klitschko calls for investigations and ‘justice’
Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms party leader Vitali Klitschko, the heavyweight boxing champion, said that “people are waiting for justice and lustration of authorities.” He proposed the following steps:
— release of all remaining political prisoners;
— independent investigations into the crimes of Yanukovych’s regime with participation of foreign experts;
— investigation of Yanukovych’s allies;
— searches of Yanukovych officials; and
— investigations into judges who persecuted EuroMaidan activists.
Klitschko also said that appointing a new Central Election Commission as soon as possible is critical to the nation’s efforts to hold a free and democratic presidential election set for May 24. He also said legislation needs to be passed to take away some legal perks enjoyed by officials and members of parliament.
Video purportedly shows armed police on Feb. 20, when at least 50 protesters killed in Kyiv
A video that purports to show armed riot police. Censor.net.ua says the video was filmed on Feb. 20, the same day that snipers behind police lines shot and killed at least 50 protesters, part of the nearly 100 EuroMaidan demonstrators killed since January.
Ukraine’s security forces used an array of firearms against protesters that day, including locally-produced copies of long-range Swiss rifles, according to a new report published on Feb. 24 by the Armament Research Services (ARES), an arms and munitions consultancy.
“In addition to the SVD type rifles commonly seen, security forces have been documented using a license-produced copy of one of the Brügger & Thomet APR rifles (as seen above). APR rifles are bolt-action sniper rifles produced in .308 Winchester (APR308 series) and .338 Lapua Magnum (APR338). They have guaranteed accuracies of 1 MOA up to 1000 and 1500 metres respectively,” reads the ARES report.
It continues: “The Ukrainian copies are produced under license by Tactical Systems Ltd. According to B&T(Brügger & Thomet), the license for the entire APR range (four models) as well as other B&T products was approved by the Swiss licensing body, SECO, in 2009. The TS rifles are known as the TS 308 and TS 338, and are produced in Ukraine and branded with the TS (Tactical Systems Ltd.) logo.”
Brügger & Thomet told ARES there may also be “some technical differences” to the Ukraine-made rifles.
“According to Konstantin Khurshudian, director of Tactical Systems, TS series rifles were sold to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for use by special security forces during the 2012 UEFA European Championship,” ARES write. “Thus far, Ministry of Internal Affairs forces are the only users.”
In the above video, reportedly filmed during violent clashes between police and protesters on Feb. 20, shows Ukrainian security forces equipped with what appears to be the TS 308 rifle, fitted with what looks like a customised buttstock, according to ARES.
This report is compiled by the Kyiv Post staff. All of our contacts are at www.kyivpost.com/contacts
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