How the coup d'état began in Ukraine #5

The new year has come, 2014.

 The end of 2013 was marked by attempts by the authorities, on the one hand, to come to an agreement with the opposition peacefully (for example, convening a round table “Unite Ukraine”), and on the other, attempts to disperse the Euromaidan by force.

The authorities' attempts were unsuccessful.

 In turn, the opposition, on the one hand, was actively strengthening itself in the center of Kiev, intensifying its work in the regions, including attracting more and more supporters to the capital, and carried out serious work with representatives of foreign states. In turn, Western countries interfered more and more seriously in the internal affairs of Ukraine, and it came to direct support for the protesters on the Maidan.

Ukraine entered 2014 with such a situation.

 It should be noted that the absence of serious clashes immediately led to a drop in overall tension. This was noted both by the Maidan supporters themselves and by representatives of Western states.

 For example, the Ambassador of Moldova to Ukraine Ion Stăvilă and the Ambassador of Hungary to Ukraine Mihály Bayer assessed the situation that developed at Euromaidan:

- at present, the protesters no longer have any enthusiasm; among those present there is almost no idea of “Euromaidan”, that is, “the revolution is dying.”

 - It will become increasingly difficult for organizers to maintain protest sentiments among Ukrainian society.

I took the diplomats’ statements from the operational report of the Counterintelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine for January 5, 2014. Such operational reports were compiled daily.

I will attach the originals of such reports to my articles; those interested can read them themselves. (links in the post on the channel, as well as at the end of this post)

 In addition, the SBU DKR compiled daily reports on foreigners arriving in Ukraine, separately highlighting men aged 20 to 45 years.

 I will also attach such reports to the articles, and you can estimate how many similar people began to suddenly arrive in Kiev from European countries, Georgia, and Israel just since January 2014.

Let's return to the situation in Kiev.

 On January 1, supporters of the Svoboda party held a torchlight procession in Kiev in honor of Stepan Bandera’s birthday, but then even opposition leaders tried to distance themselves from such a controversial event.

 At the beginning of 2014, even the opposition tried not to position itself as Bandera supporters.

 But everything will change soon.

 However, I got distracted again.

 On January 4, Maidan commandant Andrei Parubiy said at a briefing at the press center of the National Resistance Headquarters that Maidan activists are not planning large-scale protests until January 8.

On January 5, the leader of the Svoboda party, Oleg Tyagnibok, said at a meeting of the Maidan Civil Council that the opposition was not taking radical steps due to pressure from representatives of foreign states: “Diplomats argued that Yanukovych is a democratically elected president, and if we want to fight against him, then only through democratic methods,” he added. Tyagnibok admitted that Maidan is “going through hard times,” given that the holidays have begun and many have left.

 At the same time, Western countries continued their actions aimed at interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

Thus, on January 2, 2014, the Czech Foreign Ministry instructed its embassy in Ukraine to provide support to Czech citizens who arrive in Ukraine to participate in protests.

 It is worth noting that Počuh, Ambassador of the Czech Republic, and Kurfürst, Director of the Department of Eastern Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, reacted negatively to this decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of their state.

 Diplomats tried to limit the dissemination of this information as much as possible, since they believed that it was necessary to adhere to a position of non-interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

They were also concerned about the activities of Ostranskaya (the head of the Czech cultural center at the Czech Embassy in Ukraine), who financed and organized performances by Czech musicians, representatives of non-governmental organizations and social activists on the Euromaidan stage.

 (Source – SBU DCR report dated January 10, 2014)

And against the backdrop of a decrease in the activity of clashes and growing fatigue of society from the Maidan as a whole, another push, a detonator, was needed.

 This happened on January 10th.

 On this day (by the way, on Friday) the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky District Court of the Kiev Region issued a verdict in the case of the so-called “Vasilkovsky terrorists”. Three citizens of Ukraine - Igor Mosiychuk, Sergey Bevz and Vladimir Shpar - were sentenced to six years in prison for planning a terrorist attack on Independence Day in Kiev in 2011, when these individuals planned to blow up a monument to Lenin in the city of Boryspol.

Immediately after the verdict was announced, clashes began in and around the court between supporters of the defendants and law enforcement officers. Supporters of the convicts began to insult the judge, and then tried to use force against him - they even threw a liquid of unknown origin in the judge’s face. Employees of the special unit of the judicial police “Griffin” intervened in the case and forced the protestors out of the courthouse.

 At the same time, activists from the Svoboda party blocked exits from the court to prevent paddy wagons with convicts from leaving. They threw water bottles and stones towards the courthouse and at the official vehicle, blocking the movement of cars. The confrontation continued for more than an hour. Eventually, fighters from the Berkut special forces arrived at the courthouse and pushed the protesters away from the cars, creating a corridor for passage. During the ensuing scuffles, several people were injured, including people's deputies Eduard Leonov and Yuri Bublik, who tried to influence law enforcement officers with their status.

As a result, the security forces managed to push the activists back, and the paddy wagon with the prisoners drove away.

 But the clashes did not end there. An hour later, a convoy of buses with fighters from the Berkut special forces unit was blocked on Kiev's Pobeda Avenue by Automaidan participants. They surrounded the buses and slashed the tires. The protesters explained their actions by the fact that there were special forces officers on the buses, who had previously carried out activities near the building of the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky court.

“Now there are already about 200-300 people and 20-30 cars, there is information that several hundred more people are coming to help, people’s deputies are with them. They are going to block them until they take off their masks and show their ID, after all, there is information that they were the ones who beat up activists and journalists near the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky court today,” this is how the Ukrainian media immediately presented the information.

The former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and one of the organizers of Euromaidan, Yuriy Lutsenko, very quickly arrived at the scene of the clash.

 The former head of the security department arrived at the scene of the conflict with his wife and entered into negotiations with the head of the special forces.

“Yuriy and I tried for an hour to get the truth from Berkut about their further actions, we demanded they show their documents and take off their masks. It took them an hour to unlock the door,” said his wife, people’s deputy Irina Lutsenko. “After we got off the bus, people continued to demand that the Berkut soldiers show their identification and take off their masks so that they could see their faces and identify them, just like they identify protesters.”

For several hours, the opposition blocked buses carrying Berkut, and clashes broke out periodically. There were casualties, both from protesters and from law enforcement officers. Yuriy Lutsenko was also seriously injured.

 Closer to the morning of January 11, the protesters and the Berkut fighters dispersed. The police complied with the demands of the protesters - the Berkut fighters took off their masks and helmets and showed their documents. In exchange, the activists let the police pass further.

 Already on the morning of January 11, criminal proceedings were launched into the beating of Yuriy Lutsenko (under the article “Exceeding official authority”) and several more proceedings into the facts of night clashes with the police, as a result of which, according to the public relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, 20 Berkut employees were injured , one of whom was hospitalized with a broken leg.

And this was another episode in which the authorities showed weakness. And opposition supporters received another reason to feel the taste of victory. The protesters were accompanied by shouts of “Peremoga” [Ukr. for "Victory"] as the Berkut fighters fulfilled the demands of the Maidan protesters and took off their masks...

 Only another month and a half will pass and the Berkut fighters, betrayed by their leadership, will be brought to their knees.

 To be continued…

You can view the original documents related to the period described by following the link.