UNA-UNSO denies statement welcoming attacks (09/23/01)

UNA-UNSO denies statement welcoming attacks

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Three days after a press release appeared in which the Ukrainian radical right paramilitary organization UNA-UNSO allegedly stated that it welcomed the terrorist attacks on the United States as a source of "moral satisfaction," the organization denied responsibility for the statements and said the incident was part of a disinformation effort being waged against it.

On September 17, the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self Defense Organization, a radical right political organization with a paramilitary wing, refuted any connection to remarks supporting terrorism and explained that its website had been invaded by hackers who had placed the statement supporting the attacks on the site, which was then picked up by news agencies.

In the same statement UNA-UNSO explained that it condemns terrorism and offered condolences to the families of those who perished in the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11. It said that messages of sympathy and condolences had been presented to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and to Ukrainian government offices, and that the organization had organized a blood drive among its members and supporters for victims of the terrorist acts.

The disclaimer came after Interfax-Ukraine published an article on September 14 in which it reported that the UNA-UNSO had said it considered the attack on the United States to be retribution for past U.S. aggressions, including the atomic bombing of Japan, the Vietnam War, and air raids on Libya, Iraq, Bosnia and Yugoslavia. The statement falsely attributed to the UNA-UNSO noted that "the boomerang of history had begun to swing back."

In distancing itself from the Interfax-Ukraine story and the statements that appeared on its website, the UNA-UNSO said it believes a major reason for the disinformation effort was to set the stage for the upcoming trial of 19 of its members on charges arising from violent clashes between militia and demonstrators protesting the administration of President Leonid Kuchma that took place on March 9.

Yurii Tyma, head of the executive committee of the UNA-UNSO, which took an active part in the demonstrations and has vocally opposed the Kuchma administration, said on September 19 that the false information released to Interfax-Ukraine on September 14 is the latest in a series of attempts to discredit his organization.

"For several years now disinformation has been thrown about regarding our organization to scare the population," explained Mr. Tyma, who is a former national deputy. "It could be our political competition or government structures that are responsible."

Mr. Tyma explained that he had even read reports in the Russian press recently that the UNA-UNSO was involved in the bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow several years ago, which the story used as a pretense for considering the organization's possible involvement in the U.S. terrorist acts.

"We have never supported actions where peace loving people are affected or killed. This was true in Abkhazia and the Transdniester. Only sick people do such things," said Mr. Tyma.

Mr. Tyma is a leader of an organization that has a limited but very dedicated and disciplined membership, mostly youths. The organization espouses a nationalistic pan-Ukrainian ideology, but it also has lent active support to separatist and nationalist movements in the Abkhazia region of Georgia and the Transdniester conflict of Moldova, and is said by some to be actively supporting the Chechen rebellion in Russia.

Nineteen of its members, including its leader, Andrii Shkil, were arrested shortly after bloody altercations between state militia and demonstrators in Kyiv on March 9 and charged with "provoking mass unrest." Their trials are scheduled to begin the week of November 1.

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