Terrorist Attacks Against Russins in Ukraine Must Be Curbed

Vladimir Goryunov, a political analyst of the Russian Project foundation, says another terrorist attack in Kiev, Ukraine, against the Russian Coalition, whose public reception room was set on fire by unknown arsonists, requires an immediate tough response on the part of Russia. Mr. Goryunov believes, besides the arsonists and their inspirers, condemned must be their protectors in Ukrainian state agencies. Within less than two past months, Ukrainian nationalists perpetrated several assaults against the members of the Kiev Constituent Conference of the Russian Youth Movement, assault and battery against Grigory Zinchenko, the aged leader of the Chernigov Regional Section of the Russian Coalition, and now this arson. No perpetrators were ever found. Unless Russia's State Duma, Foreign Ministry and Embassy in Ukraine clearly state their position and Ukrainian law enforcement does everything possible to find the criminals and prevent similar incidents in the future, the extremists will believe they can do anything they want and go unpunished. This may only lead to continued terror against Russians in Ukraine.

The ideology of Ukrainian, first of all Galitian, extremists who have never been anything but Russophobes without reason and that of Chechen militants have much in common. Suffice it to remember the Jokhar Dudayev Street in the city of Lvov and Ukrainian nationalists fighting among Chechen militants, long disregarded by the government of Ukraine.

The programme of the Russian Coalition, registered by the Central Elections Committee of Ukraine, includes making Russian the second official language in the country, joining the Russia-Belarus Union and wrapping up relations with NATO.