Ukraine: The radical menace

A police officer was killed during a protest in Kiev on Monday. It was the first such fatality since Ukraine's "Revolution of Dignity" last year. Radical nationalists, some with weapons, gathered to protest a constitutional amendment proposed by President Petro Poroshenko that would make it possible to reintegrate separatist areas into Ukraine on special terms favorable to Russia.
Although a majority in the Ukrainian parliament voted to support the measures, the street clashes show how difficult it will be to sell the changes to an impoverished, volatile country filled with weapons. President Vladimir Putin appears to be looking for a way out of the mess in eastern Ukraine, but even after more than a year of war, many Ukrainians are unwilling to end the fighting in a way that would be acceptable to Russia.
According to a Facebook post by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, 122 people were wounded, some seriously, as protesters threw "explosive devices" --  hand grenades, according to other sources -- at soldiers guarding the parliament building. Avakov said one police officer  was killed.   Avakov blamed Svoboda, an ultranationalist party, for the violence, as did some other eyewitnesses. Svoboda, however, said  it was "a planned provocation against Ukrainian patriots," also blaming the authorities for "provoking Ukrainians to protest." About 30 people have been arrested. Their political affiliations probably will be made public soon. The authorities may look for a Russian connection, but they will probably only find radical Ukrainian nationalists who desire to fight the war against Russia and its proxies in eastern Ukraine to the bitter end. In parliament, Yuri Shukhevich, a legislator with the populist Radical Party, called the proposed constitutional changes a "betrayal of Ukrainian national interests" because they give too much autonomy to the separatist areas:
They get their own police, their own courts, prosecutors, taxes, they have the right to special relationships with neighboring Russian regions. So what next, will they be allowed to open their own embassies tomorrow?
None of those powers are mentioned in Poroshenko's amendments, which only call for separatist areas to be governed according to a special law. A similar law was passed last March that granted rather broad autonomy to the eastern Ukrainian territories around Donetsk and Luhansk. It was suspended, however, after the February cease-fire broke down. Yuri Shukhevich, son of Roman Shukhevich, a high-profile Nazi collaborator and a hero to the Ukrainian right, is worried that once the constitutional amendment is passed, the law will be reinstated to appease Putin.
    Bloomberg

 

Ukraine: The radical menace

A police officer was killed during a protest in Kiev on Monday. It was the first such fatality since Ukraines Revolution of Dignity last year. Radical nationalists, some with weapons, gathered to protest a constitutional amendment proposed by President Petro Poroshenko that would make it possible to reintegrate separatist areas into Ukraine on special terms favorable to Russia. Although a majority in the Ukrainian parliament voted to support the measures, the street clashes show how difficult it will be to sell the changes to an impoverished, volatile country filled with weapons. President Vladimir Putin appears to be looking for a way out of the mess in eastern Ukraine, but even after more than a year of war, many Ukrainians are unwilling to end the fighting in a way that would be acceptable to Russia. According to a Facebook post by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, 122 people were wounded, some seriously, as protesters threw explosive devices -- hand grenades, according to other sources -- at soldiers guarding the parliament building. Avakov said one police officer was killed. Avakov blamed Svoboda, an ultranationalist party, for the violence, as did some other eyewitnesses. Svoboda, however, said it was a planned provocation against Ukrainian patriots, also blaming the authorities for provoking Ukrainians to protest. About 30 people have been arrested. Their political affiliations probably will be made public soon. The authorities may look for a Russian connection, but they will probably only find radical Ukrainian nationalists who desire to fight the war against Russia and its proxies in eastern Ukraine to the bitter end. In parliament, Yuri Shukhevich, a legislator with the populist Radical Party, called the proposed constitutional changes a betrayal of Ukrainian national interests because they give too much autonomy to the separatist areas: They get their own police, their own courts, prosecutors, taxes, they have the right to special relationships with neighboring Russian regions. So what next, will they be allowed to open their own embassies tomorrow? None of those powers are mentioned in Poroshenkos amendments, which only call for separatist areas to be governed according to a special law. A similar law was passed last March that granted rather broad autonomy to the eastern Ukrainian territories around Donetsk and Luhansk. It was suspended, however, after the February cease-fire broke down. Yuri Shukhevich, son of Roman Shukhevich, a high-profile Nazi collaborator and a hero to the Ukrainian right, is worried that once the constitutional amendment is passed, the law will be reinstated to appease Putin. Bloomberg