The sudden appearance of the Natsionalni Druzhyny or National Militia on the streets of Ukraine is a scary yet predictable development.
The new nationalist organization is associated with Azov, originally a battalion of volunteer fighters, and now a far-right political force.
The obscure National Militia jumped to fame overnight after several hundred uniformed young men took an oath in a very public, and very intimidating, ceremony on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on Jan. 28.
Many thought it a political show: a way to launch a private army, send a threatening signal to an opponent, or even to show off a force for hire — all in the light of the approaching 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. The newborn militia’s head-to-toe uniforms back up these assumptions, suggesting that the volunteers have rich sponsors.
Others emphasized the danger of having a volunteer militia with nationalist inclinations “patrolling” the streets, with the ominously stated purpose of “establishing Ukrainian order.” The marching militarized formation, many whose members appeared to be very young, even had some recalling the Hitler Youth.
But as unsettling as the emergence of these vigilantes is, it is more than anything a symptom of society’s dissatisfaction with the lack of rule of law in the country.
Shady groups like this feed on the public’s frustration. It is the Ukrainian people’s disillusionment with state institutions, mainly the police and courts, that leaves a space for menacing groups like this militia to fill.
Lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem, an active participant in the police reform in the past, said as much when commenting on the militia’s appearance, saying it was due to an absence of justice and “vacuum of authority.”
“As a result, the rule of law is substituted with the rule of force,” Nayyem wrote in a blog on Ukrainska Pravda on Jan. 31.
Ukraine’s law enforcement must credibly show that no such substitution will be permitted.
