Since the first days of the protests in November, the anti-government EuroMaidan movement has been complex and evolving. The demonstrators are made up of diverse groups with a common goal: Ousting President Viktor Yanukovych. One overriding aim for many is to transform Ukraine into a democratic nation that respects the rule of law and human rights. The protests have also spawned counter-protests, with the nation’s police and security services playing pro-government roles.
ANTI-GOVERNMENT
Here’s a look at some of the moving parts:
The Right Sector
Goal: Creation of a “true” Ukrainian state
Method: Ready to lead the revolution and die for it
Strength and weakness: Prepared to use force against government
Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh, 42, says the group is “the most revolutionary structure of Maidan.” The public statements suggest they do not share the opposition Svoboda Party’s nationalist goals of the primacy of ethnic Ukrainians in a nationalistic state. They consider Armenian Serhiy Nihoyan and Belarussian Mykhailo Zhyznievsky, two protesters who died from gunshot wounds after a police assault on demonstrators on Jan. 22, as heroes.
The group was created on Nov. 20 out of a handful of right-wing paramilitary and youth organizations, including Stepan Bandera’s Tryzub and Women’s Sich. They were the backbone of violent clashes with police on Hrushevskoho Street on Jan. 19-22, which they say stemmed from frustration with political deadlock.
The group is based on the fifth floor of the Trade Unions building, which is occupied by the protesters. Yarosh has called on Ukrainians who have legally registered weapons to join the protests. The group does not believe in success with negotiations between Yanukovych and the major political opposition leaders. Andriy Tarasenko, deputy head of Tryzub, says: “We believe in negotiations with Yanukovych only on terms of his capitulation.”
Despite that, the group is prepared to give the president a grace period for leaving the country and even provide him with guarantees of personal safety if he decides to stay in Ukraine after leaving power.
Spilna Sprava, or Common Cause
Goal: Complete change of power
Method: Takeover of government buildings
Strength and weakness: Highly able to set others in motion, but many of their actions are divisive and split the protest movement
Spilna Sprava, which was set up as a civic group to support small and medium businesses, has become one of the most militant protest units. They were among those who stormed Kyiv’s city hall on Dec. 1, and remained there to defend the building in case of attack by police. They were the only group to take over three national government buildings in January: the agriculture, energy and justice ministries. Justice Minister Olena Lukash threatened martial law because of their actions, prompting Spilna Sprava to vacate the occupied buildings. Spilna Sprava’s leader, 32-year-old Oleksandr Danyliuk, disputes the radical tag. “We’re probably the most peaceful protesters,” he says. Danyliuk is now in exile in Britain, but plans to return to Ukraine at the end of February.
Maidan Self-Defense
Goal: Defend the protests and their bases
Method: Paramilitary defense units that patrol the perimeter
Strength and weakness: Highly organized, rigid structure, but accused of using weapons
Maidan self-defense structures sprang up after Dec. 1, when protests in Ukraine grew massive. Coordinated by Andriy Parubiy, a member of parliament from the opposition Batkivshchyna Party, Self-Defense incorporated other defense units, including Afghan veterans, the Right Sector, the more militant units of Svoboda and others. It has a clearly paramilitary structure of more than 10,000 people, according to Parubiy, broken up into brigades, including a female one. They are armed with clubs and shields; they wear balaclavas and helmets, and often bulletproof vests. A part of this crowd partook in fights with police during the deadly clashes on Dec. 19-22.
Afghan veterans
Goal: Defend the protesters
Method: Paramilitary defense and guerilla warfare-style tactics if needed
Strength and weakness: Small group but well-organized
Just like during the 2004 Orange Revolution, the Afghan veterans came to the protests early on to prevent bloodshed. They stand between the protesters and the government troops during clashes, and claim this tactic worked to stop massive bloodshed on Dec. 1 when the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street was stormed by aggressive protesters and provocateurs. There are up to 200 of these veterans on EuroMaidan at any given time, but this small group is getting frustrated and undergoing change.
“We don’t trust either side of the political process and intend to go into politics,” leader of Afghan War veterans Serhiy Chervonopyskiy said recently.
AutoMaidan
Goal: Force decision-makers to negotiate, surrender
Method: Roving motorcades, equipped with loudspeakers
Strength and weakness: High mobility, but leaders have been targeted by the police
AutoMaidan organized impressive motorcades to travel to Yanukovych’s Mezhyhirya estate, as well as residences of presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev, Russia lobbyist Viktor Medvedchuk and others. AutoMaidan was also instrumental in tracking government-hired thugs known as titushki and neutralizing them. Police have accused AutoMaidan activists of vandalizing properties they have picketed and other crimes, including illegal detention of titushki. The approval of laws restricting civil rights on Jan. 16 was, to a large extent, due to the annoyance of powerful moguls with this movement. One of the leaders of AutoMaidan, Dmytro Bulatov, was kidnapped and found eight days later. He said he was tortured. Bulatov received medical treatment in Lithuania and on Feb. 13 flew to Germany to see family. He and two other leaders of the movement, Oleksiy Hrytsenko and Seriy Koba, are wanted by the police. Koba is currently in exile in Germany.
Student movements
Goal: Total change of power, reform of education sector
Method: Networking, legal proposals
Strength and weakness: Mobile and agile, but lacking experience to transform ideas into change
The students were a crucial part of EuroMaidan during its first, most romantic stage. It was mostly members of student and young civic sector groups who were beaten during the first midnight police raid on Nov. 30. It was the outrage at their beating that started a massive national movement for human rights, against corruption and for a comprehensive change in both the government and policy. From the start, student groups have complained that their voice has not been heard by either the government, or the opposition, even though they were the ones who designed the first complete plan for a full legal change of the government. They are still present in Ukraine House, along with other civic groups. Students run an information center there, and several tents on Maidan, but they have been marginalized.
Batkivshchyna Party
Goal: Peaceful resolution to political crisis, resignation of president, restoration of 2004 constitution that lessens powers of president
Method: Political
Strength and weakness: Strong parliament faction, internal conflict, corruption
The party of imprisoned opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is Ukraine’s biggest opposition party, with 89 seats in parliament. It is led on the streets and in parliament by lawmaker Arseniy Yatseniuk, 39. He regularly addresses EuroMaidan from the main stage at Independence Square, the epicenter of the protests, and has pushed a mostly peaceful message, but did say that he’d join protesters on the front lines if need be. Yatseniuk turned down an offer from Yanukovych in January to become prime minister, saying that he could not do so as long as the constitution remained in its current form. His party, along with other opposition parties, has pushed for the 2004 constitution, which lessened the powers of the president, to be reinstated. Batkivshchyna coordinates with other opposition parties, particularly UDAR and Svoboda. Batkivshchyna activists have run the Trade Unions house since its takeover on Dec. 1.
UDAR
Goal: Create a party with ideology similar to Germany’s Christian Democrats, win power through elections
Method: Political
Strength and weakness: Strong parliament faction, weak regional units
Led by Vitali Klitschko, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) is the second largest opposition party, with 42 seats in parliament. The party works closely with Batkivshchyna and has urged a peaceful end to the political stalemate. Klitschko brings international star power to the movement. However, in recent weeks some supporters have become disenchanted with him and the opposition collectively, at times booing him, as well as other opposition leaders. Klitschko famously got a fire extinguisher sprayed in his face on Hrushevskoho Street when he tried to intervene between police and protesters. Klitschko remains the strongest contender for president in Ukraine, according to polls, outpacing Yanukovych. Pro-government forces have started a campaign against him in parliament to declare his candidacy invalid because of his tax residency in Germany.
Svoboda
Goal: Creation of a nationalist state
Method: Political and militant
Strength and weakness: Grassroots party that gained mass popularity, with an aggressive radical wing with xenophobic ideas.
The nationalist Svoboda Party says it is the torch bearer of the World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known by the UPA acronym. Oleh Tiahnybok still is hounded for his comments a decade ago for praising UPA as defenders against “scum,” including Russians and Jews. Today, Tiahnybok leads a 36-seat faction in parliament. His party members are proud of toppling the Lenin statue in Kyiv on Dec. 8, as well as clashing with police on occasion. Svoboda, along with UDAR, has run the Kyiv city hall since its takeover on Dec. 1.
Democratic Alliance
Goal: Change of rules in the country
Method: Pickets, rallies
Strength and weakness: Although authors of many daring types of protests, their goals are not clear
Created as a grassroots political party with a very young membership, the Democratic Alliance promotes the idea of active citizens. They were also the first party to crowd-source cash for running for parliament in 2012, but failed to raise the required amount for registration. They conduct information campaigns on Maidan, collect donations, picket court hearings against activists and organize marches to Mezhyhirya.
Public Sector of EuroMaidan
Goal: Public protests that lead to comprehensive changes
Method: Information campaigns, creation of strategies
Strength and weakness: A bright, but small and divided group with no common vision
The public sector of EuroMaidan is the term coined to glue together many types of activists that have coordinated all protest activities from Nov. 21, be it setting up shelters and the stage, putting out information about the inner workings of Maidan, or coordinating deliveries of food and warm clothes.
Their activists have been targeted by smear campaigns and physical violence, including the abduction of Ihor Lutsenko and Yuriy Verbytskiy from a hospital in January. Verbytskiy died from a beating after being kidnapped. Many civic groups of EuroMaidan attempted to unite into a coalition to be able to design a better strategy for moving forward, but their efforts are no longer in focus after protests turned deadly on Jan. 19-22.
PRO-GOVERNMENT
Berkut (Golden Eagles riot-control police)
Goal: Protect government buildings and quell public protests when ordered
Method: Truncheons, shields, water cannons and guns
Strength and weakness: Best of all tactical forces, but often heavy-handed
Revered by the pro-government side, despised by many on the other, the Berkut, or Golden Eagles, is Ukraine’s elite riot police force, the best and fiercest of those who made it through military training. Often they’re clad in blue urban camouflage, their faces masked beneath large black helmets. Armed with truncheons, shotguns and shields, they have been the most talked about law enforcement group since the protests began. They first grabbed headlines after violently attacking peaceful protesters on Nov. 30, dispersing them from Independence Square. The next day, they were in the news again, this time for chasing down and beating radical and peaceful protesters alike, along with some journalists, near the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street. They also clashed with protesters on Hrushevskoho Street from Jan. 19-22, during which time dozens on both sides of the barricades were injured and three protesters were shot to death.
There are 900 of them in Kyiv, according to experts, and 3,920 in total.
Interior Ministry special troops
Goal: Protect government buildings and quell public protests when ordered
Method: Truncheons, shields
Strength and weakness: Strong as a group, weak on their own
Not to be confused with the Berkut are the Interior Ministry’s special troops. They don similar gear to the riot police, but are more often than not dressed in black with Interior Ministry patches on their arms. They, too, carry truncheons and shields, but are less skilled than the Berkut. Many are very young, in their late teens or early twenties.
Titushki
Goal: Destabilize demonstrations, attack anti-government protesters
Method: Brute force, beatings, kidnappings
Strength and weakness: Endorsed by the government and Russia, not smart
Government-hired thugs and athletes willing to beat people for cold, hard cash are known to the public as titushki – a term that stems from fighter Vadym Titushko, who in June 2013 attacked two journalists during a rally in Kyiv. Often jobless, they accept fees reportedly between $15 and $40 a day to provoke EuroMaidan protesters. Hailing from mostly eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, their numbers have been estimated to be in the thousands. Typically, they are recruited through fight clubs and sports gyms, as well as through social networks.
Ukrainian Front
Goal: Federalization of Ukraine, push back internationalists and radicals
Method: Unclear
Strength and weakness: Endorsed by the government and Russia
This group was created in Kharkiv on Jan. 29 as an attempt by government forces to push back against what they perceive as a neo-Nazi threat from western Ukraine. The group is composed of dozens of smaller civic and political organizations, including Ukrainskiy Vybir, an outspoken pro-Russian group created and financed by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has close ties with Vladimir Putin. The statutory session of the group was attended by the Russian consul in Kharkiv.
At that gathering, the group declared it was driven by the desire to unite the forces of south and east of Ukraine to prevent a coup in the nation, and fight the radical nationalist forces. Their declared goal is also “establishment of a single civilizational space of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.”
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.
