Terrorists from the Ukrainian Parliament

[John McWrice]

Some members of the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) are related to global terrorism. It’s not exaggeration.

This is about a former member of the Verkhovna Rada and the leader of the nationalist far-right “Svoboda” political party Oleh Tyahnybok and people’s deputy, chief of the general staff advisor Dmytro Yarosh. Despite of the fact that they are leaders of different parties, most of their public life was connected with the same far-right political organization - The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO).

This organization is famous for connections to different fringe and terrorist groups all over the world. Indeed, it was reportedly in contact with “Red Brigades”, Algerian Islamic fundamentalists, Irish Republican Army, American and German neo-Nazis, “Ystergarde” group of Afrikaner Resistance Movement, Kurdistan Worker’s Party, Turkish “Grey wolves” and even Hekmatyar’s militia and “Taliban” movement! UNA-UNSO also participated in many armed conflicts in the former Soviet Union, especially First and Second Chechen wars.

Both Tyahnybok and Yarosh fought in Chechnya in 1994-1995 on the side of illegal military groups. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, they formed a squad out of UNA-UNSO fighters. Besides, on March 1, 2014, Dmitro Yarosh appealed Dokka Umarov, a Chechen militant guerrilla leader associated with Al-Qaeda, for support of Ukraine to fight against Russia. Moreover, from 2015 to 2016 he was on Interpol international wanted list at the request of Russian authorities. Separately, both politics are known for their anti-Semitic and extremist statements, and in 2012 Oleh Tyahnybok was even put on The Simon Wiesenthal Center list of the top 10 anti-Semites and haters of Israel.

To be sure, body-politic of Ukraine now includes avowed extremes: international criminal Dmytro Yarosh who has a contact with one of the most odious terrorists in the world and one of the main anti-Semites, fascist Oleh Tyahnybok. It is evident that these persons and their political organizations are dangerous not only for ethnic minorities in Ukraine but also for world society. And this is a country, which declared a commitment to democratic values and attitudes! Comment is needless…