Neo-Nazi “Azov” Thugs Attack Economist Vitrenko, Left Opposition Demonstration in Kiev

A demonstration led by economist Dr. Natalia Vitrenko was violently attacked on March 17 in a park in central Kiev, by the Civil Corps of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which is still allowed to receive U.S. money despite attempts in Congress to block such funding. Gathered for the rally to mark the 25th anniversary of a 1991 referendum in which the people of Ukraine, as well as republics of the Soviet Union, voted to preserve the U.S.S.R., were representatives of several political parties allied as the “Left Opposition.” Speakers included four former members of the Supreme Rada, the Parliament of post-1991 independent Ukraine.

Just shy of ten minutes into the rally, as Vitrenko was talking via loudspeaker about the devastation of Ukraine’s economy during the past two and a half decades, a squad of black-clad young men, some of them masked, charged at the rally and attempted to break it up. As the Left Opposition activists defended themselves, several were seriously injured. Two large stones were thrown at the speakers’ position next to a monument to Russia’s and Ukraine’s shared history, one landing close to Vitrenko in what security experts evaluate as an attempt to kill her. Back in 1999, at a point when Vitrenko was showing support of over 30% in opinion polls during her run for the Presidency of Ukraine, she survived a grenade attack on one of her campaign rallies.

The press service of Vitrenko’s party, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, reports that although proper notice had been given of the plan and schedule for the peaceful demonstration, there was no police presence and the police arrived only half an hour after being called during the attack. Vitrenko has filed a complaint, demanding that a criminal case be opened regarding the violent attempt to block the exercise of the rights to freedom of speech and assembly.

Ukrainian websites cite a release from the so-called Azov Civil Corps, taking credit for the attack. This is the paramilitary “guard” wing of the Azov Battalion, which is officially attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (national police) and has incorporated leaders and units of the fascist Right Sector group that was instrumental in the coup d’état—the overthrow of Ukraine’s elected President—in February 2014. Like several Ukrainian neo-fascist youth groups since 1991, including Right Sector’s predecessors the Social-National Party of Ukraine (later Svoboda) and Ukrainian Patriot, Azov flies the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol. The rampages of the Azov squadristi were featured in Paul Moreira’s film “Ukraine: The Masks of Revolution,” released in France earlier this year.

In July 2015 U.S. Congressmen John Conyers (D-MI) and Ted Yoho (R-FL) wrote an amendment to the House Defense Appropriations bill (H.R.2685), which would have limited “arms, training, and other assistance to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the Azov Battalion.” James Carden, writing in The Nation of Jan. 14, 2016, noted that the amendment was passed by the House, but stripped from the bill before its final passage. Thus, the attackers who can be seen in the video of this incident, (short version), are part of an entity authorized to receive U.S. funding through official channels of aid to Ukraine.

The website www.dialog.ua reports that Azov Civil Corps leader Nazar Kravchenko called the attack justified, because the Left Opposition flags allegedly include “Soviet symbols,” which are now illegal in Ukraine, and was a “communist action,” such has also been outlawed. Kravchenko also lied that Vitrenko had fled the scene, whereas in fact she resumed her speech on economic policy, after the attackers had been driven off.

Speaking later during the rally, former MP Vladimir Marchenko demanded that U.S. and European leaders be confronted with what the forces they have backed are doing.

On Feb. 4, the left opposition issued a “Petition to the United Nations and Council of Europe Commissioners for Human Rights concerning the obstruction of the activities of opposition political parties and public organizations by the Ukrainian government, and need to start large-scale international verification of whether human rights and freedoms are being honored in Ukraine.” Its full text is available in English .