Ukrainians throw their officials into garbage cans

Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov is concerned that Kiev may lose the support of Europe and the United States due to increasing attacks on MPs and representatives of authorities.

"If we have a couple of more lynching incidents, Europe will turn away from our victorious revolution. And, I'm afraid, America will, too," the minister wrote on his Facebook page.

In Ukraine, after the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the lustration of power, members of the Right Sector radical movement attacked several deputies and officials. Extremists demonstratively shove their victims into garbage cans and beat them.

On the day of the adoption of the law, radical protesters attacked MP Vitaly Zhuravsky from Economic Development group. The attackers threw the deputy into a garbage can and did not let him climb out for a long time, claiming that their brothers and friends were dying because of officials like him.

Last week, deputy Viktor Pilipishin found himself in a garbage can as well. The official came to the Central Electoral Committee to apply for registration as a candidate. He was also doused with red paint. A photo of the deputy sitting on a pile of garbage quickly became popular on the Internet.

On September 30, Right Sector nationalists attacked Party of Regions deputy Nestor Shufrich in Odessa. Another deputy, who was accompanying Shufrich for a press conference, was attacked as well. At first, the extremists were planning to shove the MP into a garbage can, but then simply beat him. Reportedly, the deputy suffered a concussion.

Strangely enough, representatives of the Right Sector fascist movement deny any involvement in the incident with Shufrich. Borislav Bereza, a spokesman for the movement, stated that the MP allegedly organized his own beating. According to Bereza, Shufrich wanted to be beaten in public, so the official hired his own people, when he understood that Right Sector activists were not going to assault him.

Interior Minister posted a message on Facebook addressing the radicals.  "Dear radicals, don't be marginalized morons - do not follow the stupid instinctive desire to judge by the right of crowd. We will take laws, such as the recent lustration one, to establish legal punishment and degree of responsibility, in a civilized way, that would be worth of the status of a Ukrainian national. Otherwise, this is a provocation of primeval chaos and war to incite strife in the country, to the benefit of the external enemy." The minister urged radicals "to display the high spirit of the revolution and dignity" and "not to act like underclass savages, because Ukraine is a European country."

Avakov's remarks insulted the leader of the Radical Party, Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Lyashko. "Avakov is a moron himself! Because he doesn't understand that people act in such a radical way just because the law doesn't work," Lyashko wrote on his Facebook page. "So today, patriots lustrate regionals (Part of Regions MPs - ed.) with the help of garbage, and tomorrow, they will throw out, like garbage, Avakov and others like him, who came to office and forgot what Maidan was all for," concluded the deputy.

On September 17th, the Parliament of Ukraine gave the second and final reading to the law on the lustration of power. According to Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, the law affects the whole vertical of power - a million officials, civil servants, law enforcement officials, including cabinet ministers in its entirety. The Prime Minister instructed to create a commission to check current members of the government and their deputies, ministers and heads of central executive authorities for compliance with the new law.

Adopting the law on lustration was one of the main requirements of Maidan activists. Activists demanded government members should not be included on the list of the richest people in Ukraine, should not take executive positions in the executive branch, should not have worked in the administration of former President Viktor Yanukovych and should not be involved in human rights violations and corruption scandals. Strangely enough, new Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is one of Ukraine's wealthiest men, who, in addition to that, took a high post in Yanukovych's administration.

The United States and the EU actively support the new, coup-installed Ukrainian government, accusing Russia of interfering in internal affairs of the neighboring country. The support is primarily expressed in wiring huge funds to Kiev. For example, in mid-June, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the allocation of $10 million to Kiev for the fight against corruption. In early June, Washington allocated $5 million to Ukraine "for immediate needs," including "body armor, night vision devices and communications." It was also reported that the US would send $48 million to reform the Ukrainian authorities.

For the time being, the West has not made one single statement about the above-mentioned attacks on Ukrainian officials.

Pravda.Ru