Ukraine’s voluntary militia called the Azov Battalion holds artillery training in east Ukraine, west of the port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea, March 19, 2015. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Josh Cohen, Reuters: In the battle between Ukraine and Russian separatists, shady private armies take the field
While the ceasefire agreement between the Ukrainian government and separatist rebels in the eastern part of the country seems largely to be holding, a recent showdown in Kiev between a Ukrainian oligarch and the government revealed one of the country’s ongoing challenges: private military battalions that do not always operate under the central government’s control.
In March, members of the private army backed by tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky showed up at the headquarters of the state-owned oil company, UkrTransNafta. The standoff occurred after Kiev fired the company’s chief executive officer — an ally of Kolomoisky’s. Kolomoisky said that he was trying to protect the company from an illegal takeover.
WNU Editor: I have another term for these "volunteer" battalions and their oligarch backers .... warlords and mercenaries. To reign these gangs Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko will have his work cut out for him .... and he will create (if not already) many enemies. This is also very dangerous for him personally .... there have been many threats on his life since he assumed the Presidency .... but it is these private armies with their rich backers that probably now concerns him and his security detail the most.
5 comments:
He has to kill or jail them.
There is no other way.
Anzino,
With Dmitry Yarosh, Minister of the Armed Forces, head of Pravy Sector, in charge of /leader of "most" of these Militia's,
And with the UAF utterly reliant on these "militias" as Storm Troops and for Area Policing, killing or jailing them is not an option.
"Policing, killing or jailing them is not an option."
I should have added co-opting them.
Doesn't matter. Either the elected government runs the country or the inmates from the asylum do. I am not saying that the government is doing a great job or anywhere near it, but these militias and their feudal owners sound worse.
If the inmates do, Ukraine ends up something like Belarus or some other dictatorship, or the Russians takeover piece by piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14njUwJUg1I.
Aizino,
They can't jail or kill them until "after" the war is won,
And as many of the militia fighters are either doing it to uphold their extremist nationalist ideals, or the paycheck,
The Ukrainian State can't co-opt them.
And the militia's have their own plans for the Government in Kiev, once the war is over.
I concur Jay .... people like Dmitry Yarosh want more than just a ministerial post .... they want the President's office. Heaven help Ukraine if that type of twisted nationalism gets into power.
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