JUNE 20, 2018<\/p>\n
BY JOSH COHEN<\/p>\n
It sounds like the stuff of Kremlin propaganda, but it\u2019s not. Last week Hromadske Radio\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports is funding the\u00a0neo-Nazi group C14\u00a0<\/a>to promote “national patriotic education projects” in the country. On June 8, the Ministry announced that it will award C14 a little less than $17,000 for a children\u2019s camp. It also awarded funds to Holosiyiv Hideout and Educational Assembly, both of which have links to the far-right. The revelation represents a dangerous example of law enforcement tacitly accepting or even encouraging the increasing lawlessness of far-right groups willing to use violence against those they don’t like.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of 2018, C14 and other far-right groups such as the Azov-affiliated National Militia,\u00a0Right Sector,\u00a0Karpatska Sich<\/em>, and others have attacked Roma groups\u00a0several<\/a>\u00a0times, as well as\u00a0anti-fascist<\/a>\u00a0demonstrations,\u00a0city council<\/a>\u00a0meetings, an event\u00a0hosted\u00a0<\/a>by Amnesty International,\u00a0art exhibitions<\/a>, LGBT\u00a0events<\/a>,\u00a0and environmental\u00a0activists<\/a>. On March 8, violent groups launched attacks against\u00a0International Women\u2019s Day marchers<\/a>\u00a0in cities across Ukraine. In only a few of these cases did police do anything to prevent the attacks, and in some they even\u00a0arrested<\/a>\u00a0peaceful demonstrators\u00a0rather than the actual perpetrators<\/a>.<\/p>\n International human rights groups have sounded the alarm. After the March 8 attacks, Amnesty International\u00a0warned\u00a0<\/a>that “Ukraine is sinking into a chaos of uncontrolled violence posed by radical groups and their total impunity. Practically no one in the country can feel safe under these conditions.”\u00a0Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Front Line Defenders\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0in a letter\u00a0that radical groups acting under “a veneer of patriotism” and \u201ctraditional values” were allowed to operate under an “atmosphere of near total impunity that cannot but embolden these groups to commit more attacks.”<\/p>\n To be clear, far-right parties like Svoboda perform poorly in Ukraine\u2019s polls and elections, and Ukrainians evince no desire to be ruled by them. But this argument is a bit of “red herring.” It\u2019s not extremists’ electoral prospects that should concern Ukraine’s friends, but rather the state’s unwillingness or inability to confront violent groups and end their impunity. Whether this is due to a continuing sense of indebtedness to some of these groups for fighting the Russians or fear they might turn on the state itself, it\u2019s a real problem and we do no service to Ukraine by sweeping it under the rug.<\/p>\n The anti-democratic ideology these groups espouse runs counter the values of the Euromaidan. Ukrainians took to the streets to confront former President Yanukovych because they wanted to live in a democratic state where everyone is held accountable. Honoring the values of Euromaidan therefore requires Kyiv to protect all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, sexuality, or political views.<\/p>\n Far-right impunity also represents a dangerous threat to Ukraine\u2019s statehood. It\u2019s been long understood in Western political and legal philosophy that the state must have a monopoly on violence in order to be a legitimate state, and when a state loses this monopoly, society starts to break down.\u00a0Ukraine’s certainly nowhere near this point, but it shouldn’t take any chances either.<\/p>\n Kyiv should understand that turning a blind eye toward all of this activity risks damaging Ukraine’s international reputation. The Kremlin won’t hesitate to cynically use the far right’s activities to push its false claim that Ukraine is a hornet’s nest of fascists, while Kyiv could also lose support in the West for its inaction.<\/p>\n Luckily, the authorities still have time to nip things in the bud if they act now.\u00a0President Petro Poroshenko could start by enacting a \u201czero-tolerance\u201d policy on unsanctioned vigilantism and direct authorities to cleanse law enforcement agencies of far-right sympathizers\u00a0such as<\/a>\u00a0Sergei Korotkykh, who heads\u00a0the National Police\u2019s head of security for sites of strategic importance.<\/p>\n Government agencies at all levels should also stop cooperating with far-right groups. In addition to the Youth Ministry’s problematic funding,\u00a0C14 and a Kyiv city district recently\u00a0signed<\/a>\u00a0an\u00a0agreement<\/a>\u00a0allowing C14 to establish a “municipal guard” to patrol the streets; three such militia-run guard forces are already registered in Kyiv, and\u00a0twenty-one operate<\/a>\u00a0in other cities as well. And C14’s dangerous leader Yevhen Karas even\u00a0boasts openly<\/a>\u00a0about cooperating with the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU). All this needs to end and state officials found to be cooperating with extremists must be removed.<\/p>\n Finally, it\u2019s important that Poroshenko and other senior government officials publicly condemn extreme organizations like C14 and speak out in support of marginalized groups.\u00a0As three straight years of incident-free Kyiv Pride events demonstrate,\u00a0the state certainly possesses the capability to deter far-right vigilantism if it wants to. However, the authorities are clearly aware of Kyiv Pride\u2019s international visibility and the real test will come once the bright lights disappear.<\/p>\n It won’t be easy to end far-right impunity, but the government must summon the will to do so now.<\/p>\n