Ukrainian Monitors Record 137 Episodes Of Violence, Confrontation By Ultraright Groups

Conducted by Kyiv-based Institute Respublica and financed by the Rosa Luxemberg Foundation in Germany, the report on January 20 stated that most acts of violence and confrontation during the one-year period were committed by two groups: C14 and National Corps.

Forty such cases were attributed to C14, of which 25 were “of a violent nature,” including 10 violent incidents toward people.

Attributed to National Corps, the political wing of the far-right Azov movement, were 30 episodes, of which 21 were of a violent nature, including 15 toward people.

According to Oksana Dutchak, Institute Respublica’s resident sociologist, the group documented 48 cases of a “confrontational nature” and 89 incidents of violence toward people or property.

The most incidents of violence and confrontation — 23 — were recorded in November 2018.

There were 14 incidents of violence committed against feminist or lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists; 13 against political party members; 12 against representatives of state or law enforcement institutions; four against journalists; four against business representatives; three against artists; and two against ethnic minorities or migrants.

“Ultraright violence continues to be systematic, regular and, with very rare exceptions, committed with impunity,” Maksym Butkevych, a human rights activist and coordinator of the Without Borders project, told RFE/RL. “Impunity encourages a continuance of violent practices; it ‘beckons’ those who resort to violence…to do it again.”

The National Corps Party and its semi-military wing, the National Militia, belong to the so-called Azov movement. The latter was established by radically-minded former soldiers of the current Azov National Guard special purpose unit.

Azov started off in 2014 as a volunteer battalion, which fought in important battles against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, including in the liberation of the port city Mariupol, Donetsk region’s second largest city.

The U.S. State Department last year labeled the National Corps and C14 as “nationalist hate groups.”