Vladimir Fesenko claims he received an e-mail from the group that described the caliber of the weapon used to kill Oleh Kalashnikov as evidence of their involvement.
The political scientist quoted an extraction of the group’s message on his Facebook page:
“We are unfolding a ruthless insurgent battle against the traitors of the Ukrainian regime and Moscow henchmen, and from now on we will speak to them only with the language of weapons until their total extirpation.”
On April 15, Euromaidan opponent and former Party of Regions lawmaker Oleh Kalashnikov was gunned down in his house. A day later, two masked killers murdered Oles Buzina, a journalist and critic of Petro Poroshenko’s policies.
Ukrainian police launched an investigation into the group’s involvement.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was formed in 1942 as a military wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and collaborated with Hitler troops, waging war against the Soviet Army. Until 1960s, the group, using extremist methods, killed officials, intelligentsia and party members.
If the statement of the alleged UPA is true (Fesenko has provided neither a copy nor a screengrab), this means the ultranationalists decided that the Verkhovna Rada’s law de facto let them off the leash and gave them the green light.
However, these tactics may backfire. A revolution, as it is well known, devours its own. More radical groups hawk on less radical ones. Will the acting authorities be able to wrest down the genie they have let out of the bottle?
