Several dozen members of the Sich C-14 and Tradition and Order far-right nationalist groups on Oct. 14 attacked one of the offices of an organization headed by pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
The attack on the offices of Ukrainian Choice-Right of the People, a non-governmental organization based in Kyiv, came after nationalists rallied in the center of the capital to mark the 76th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and partisan force.
The nationalists demanded that Medvedchuk, who oversees the prisoner exchange process with Russia and who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, secure the release of all 70 political prisoners jailed by the Kremlin since the start of its military intervention in Ukraine in 2014.
“Return the prisoners, you, Putin’s bitch!” the activists chanted, while throwing stones, drawing graffiti and vandalizing the building on Ivana Franka Street in central Kyiv, where Ukrainian Choice shares an office with businessman and politician Vadym Rabinovich’s For Life political party.
Yevhen Karas, leader of C14, filmed the attack and posted the video on Facebook in the evening on Oct. 14.
Medvedchuk, who earlier joined For Life party and announced his plans to run in next year’s parliamentary elections, said the attack was prompted by his political positions.
A video shows nationalists from Sich C-14 and Tradition and Order far-right organizations vandalizing one of the offices of Ukrainian Choice-Right of the People, a non-governmental organization, headed by the pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk on Oct. 14. (Yevhen Karas/Facebook)
“Medvedchuk, Ukrainian Choice and the For Life party share the position that for peace in the Donbas and for the restoration of its territorial integrity, Ukraine needs to normalize relations with Russia,” reads an official statement Medvedchuk’s press service published on the Ukrainian Choice website on Oct. 14.
“The party of war has been using anti-Russian hysteria and violent methods of political struggle in order not to let the idea of peace triumph,” the statement went on.
Medvedchuk’s press service claimed this was not the first time nationalists had attacked his office. They had previously set fire to the offices of Ukrainian Choice and sent physical threats to Medvedchuk, the press service said.
Nationalists on Aug. 16 hung a portrait of Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus, a Soviet dissident and political prisoner, who died in a Soviet labor camp in 1985, near the Ukrainian Choice office.
Medvedchuk was Stus’s defense lawyer at the poet’s sham trial in 1980 for anti-Soviet activities. In his final statement, Medvedchuk took the side of the state, agreeing with the charges made against Stus. After being found guilty, the poet received a ten-year prison term and five years in exile.
Earlier, on July 31, activists burned a giant ball of cotton wool near one of Medvedchuk’s offices, demanding he speed up the release of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, sentenced for 20 years in prison on false charges in 2016.
Cotton wool, or “vata” in Ukrainian has come to symbolize pro-Russian activists and politicians in Ukraine. The name is connected with the coats made with a cotton wool lining, called vatniks, which were used by the Soviet military and are still a popular item of clothing in Russian villages. A “vatnik” is a Russian who supports Putin’s regime and Russian nationalism.
“None of the attackers was arrested by police afterward. Not this time, not ever,” Medvedchuk’s press service said.
The National Police of Kyiv claimed in a statement published on the police website on Oct. 14 that by the time its officers arrived at the scene, all the attackers had left.
“Police are investigating at the crime scene, and examining the video of the attack published online,” the police press service said.
Ukrainian Choice NGO’s office building pictured after the Oct. 14 attack by nationalists. (National Police)
