SUBJECT: UKRAINE'S MAIN EXTREMIST GROUPS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 002323 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI UP SUBJECT: SUBJECT: UKRAINE'S MAIN EXTREMIST GROUPS Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) Extremist groups in Ukraine espouse a wide range of ideologies. Groups such as the UNA-UNSO and Patriot of Ukraine are ultra nationalists while the Ukrainian National-Labor Party and the Ukrainian Movement Against Illegal Immigration have a neo-Nazi following. The group Bratsvo has an anarchic outlook while the Russia-based Eurasian Youth Union promotes Russian neo-imperialism. These fringe groups lack political clout but promote intolerant ideologies, which can influence alienated youth and contribute to social problems such as hate crimes. The Embassy has compiled background information from open sources on these groups. End Summary. UNA-UNSO -------------- ¶2. (U) The Ukrainian National Assembly/Ukrainian National Self-Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO) is a right-wing nationalist organization and registered political party founded in 1990 by Yuriy Shukhevych, son of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) commander Roman Shukhevych. Originally a coalition of nationalist groups that venerated Mussolini, it declared itself a political party in 1991. In response to the August 1991 anti-Gorbachev coup attempt, the organization formed a paramilitary wing - the Ukrainian People's Self Defense Organization (UNSO). UNSO fighters were reported to have participated in the 1992 Moldova-Tranistria conflict against Moldovan forces, the 1993 Georgia-Abkhazia war on the side of Georgia, the 1995 conflict in Chechnya on the side of the Chechyens, and in the 1999 Kosovo conflict on the side of the Serbs. ¶3. (U) The organization first registered as a political party in 1994 and was subsequently deregistered in 1995 for its radicalism. It was reregistered in 1997. UNA-UNSO has limited representation on local councils in western Ukraine and received 16,379 votes in the March 2006 Rada elections. It was involved in the "Ukraine without Kuchma" movement in 2000-2001 and 18 of its members were arrested for violent clashes with police, including Andriy Skhil, who later left the party and is now an MP with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc. UNA-UNSO supported Yushchenko in the 2004 elections. Bratsvo (Brotherhood) -------------- ¶4. (U) A civic movement without clear ideology or platform founded in 2002 by Dmytro Korchynskiy, a former UNA-UNSO activist. The movement focuses on radical means to change the political process and honors disparate figures such as Stalin and Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian Nationalist who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) 1940-1944. In 2004 Korchynskiy ran for president and got 0.17 percent. In 2005 Bratsvo joined forces with Natalia Vitrenko's extreme left-wing Progressive Socialist Party in an unsuccessful effort to attract votes for the 2006 parliamentary elections. Patriot of Ukraine -------------- ¶5. (U) Originally the youth wing of the Svoboda political party, it was dissolved in 2004. In 2005, it was registered as a civic organization and is not officially connected with Svoboda or any other political party. Patriot of Ukraine protested against Kharkiv court rulings making Russian the second official language in the city. It has local branches in Kyiv (2006),Poltava (2008),and Chernihiv (2008). Its official ideology is Social Nationalism, a cult of the nation within a state, which is anti-immigrant ("Ukraine for Ukrainians"),anti-capitalist, and anti-globalist. In April 2008, it began to cooperate with organizations such as the Ukrainian National-Labor Party and pro-Russian Crimean Cossack groups. Ukrainian National-Labor Party -------------- ¶6. (U) An unregistered organization led by Yevhen Herasymenko. This party bases its ideology on national-socialism. Its members are mainly skinheads and neo-Nazis believed to have been involved in physical attacks against minorities. It has regional representation in the cites of Simferopol, Uman, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovograd, Lviv, Kotovsk, Rivne, Ternopil, Kharkiv, and Kherson. The organization is reported to cooperate with Svoboda and the Ukrainian Conservative Party lead by the president of the Interregional Academy for Personnel Management (MAUP) Heorhiy Shchokin, known for KYIV 00002323 002 OF 002 promoting anti-Semitism. Ukrainian Movement Against Illegal Immigration -------------- - ¶7. (U) This unregistered organization, which is reported to have a following among neo-Nazis, promotes white supremacy and is opposed to immigrants - especially from Asia and Africa. The movement has two wings, a pro-Russian wing mostly based in Crimea and a pro-Ukrainian wing. Some experts allege that both wings get financing and guidance from Russia while others assert that the two wings are independent of one another and have ideological differences. The pro-Ukrainian movement is headed by Oleksander Bielov. Eurasian Youth Union -------------- ¶8. (U) The organization was established in February 2005 in Russia as a youth wing of the International Eurasian Movement led by Aleksandr Dugan. With its leadership based in Moscow, it claims to have branches in Ukraine, Moldova, Transnistria, Belarus, the UK, Turkey, and Poland. In Ukraine, it has a presence in 15 oblasts and is most active in Crimea, as well as in the cities of Sumy, Donetsk, Kyiv, and Kharkiv. The organization's ideology favors Russian imperialism and is opposed to the "color" revolutions in the post-Soviet space. It is extremist and anti-American. Analysts allege that it is controlled by the Kremlin. In August 2007, a Kharkiv court banned the organization for destroying a memorial sign to UPA soldiers in the city. Its activists vandalized Ukrainian national symbols on Hoverla Mountain in October ¶2007. TAYLOR