March 25
(BBC News Europe) A Ukrainian ultra-nationalist leader has been shot dead in
what officials describe as a special forces operation. Oleksandr Muzychko,
better known as Sashko Bily, died in a shoot-out with police in a cafe in Rivne
in western Ukraine, the interior ministry said. He was a leader of Right
Sector, a far-right group which was prominent in the recent anti-government
protests. Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament has voted to accept the resignation
of Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh.
Mr Tenyukh had been accused of
indecision in the face of Russia's military takeover of Crimea. The shooting of
Muzychko happened just hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had
held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsia - their first
meeting since Russia's move into Crimea triggered a diplomatic crisis.
Ukraine's Deputy Interior Minister
Vladimir Yevdokimov said Muzychko died after opening fire at police and Sokol
special forces, who had raided a cafe to arrest him and fellow ultra-nationalists.
The authorities described Muzychko as a criminal gang leader. During the raid,
Muzychko fired at police as he was trying to flee, wounding one of them. Police
then returned fire and captured him and three others in his "criminal
gang", Mr Yevdokimov said.
"He was still alive as they
were arresting him - but then the paramedics, called to the scene, found that
he had died," Mr Yevdokimov said. The three arrested gang members have
been taken to Kiev for questioning. A Right Sector organiser in Rivne has now
threatened revenge for the killing of Muzychko, saying he had not been summoned
by investigators. "We will avenge ourselves on [Interior Minister] Arsen
Avakov for the death of our brother. The shooting of Sashko Bily is a contract
killing ordered by the minister," said Roman Koval of the Right Sector in
Rivne region, quoted by the Ukrayinska Pravda website.
Moscow says the activities of Right
Sector and other Ukrainian nationalist groups pose a threat to the large
Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin gave that as one
of his reasons for intervening in Crimea. However, some commentators say Russia
has deliberately whipped up such fears, and that the influence of Right Sector
in Ukrainian politics is exaggerated. Earlier, Russian authorities issued an
arrest warrant for Muzychko, accusing him of atrocities against Russian
soldiers in Chechnya. The Russian indictment says he tortured captive Russian
soldiers in the 1990s, when Moscow was trying to crush Chechen separatist
guerrillas. Muzychko denied the allegations. Reports say he led a group of
Ukrainian nationalists who fought alongside the Chechen rebels.
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