Clashes feared in Kyiv on UPA anniversary date (10/15/06)

Clashes feared in Kyiv on UPA anniversary date

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Violence may once again mar the annual St. Mary the Protectress commemoration in Kyiv on October 14, as, once again, the Kyiv city government is doing little to prevent it.

Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) veterans regard the feast day of St. Mary the Protectress as their army's founding date in 1942 and have marched along the Khreschatyk in Kyiv for many years in commemoration of their anniversary - until the Orange Revolution that is.

Last year, thousands of pro-Russian and protesters confronted the veterans and clashed violently with their supporters.

Leaders of these groups, which include the Communist Party and the Party of Putin's Politics, returned to the Kyiv City Administration on October 11 to indicate they intend to do the same this year with their own event.

Though UPA veterans and their supporters told officials they are willing to hold their event at a different location and time, the pro-Russian forces refused to move their own event, said Ihor Mazur-Topolia, a leader in the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO).

This reveals their intent on disrupting, the St. Mary the Protectress Day ceremonies, which include political speeches and a religious service celebrated by Ukrainian Orthodox priests.

"The lack of punishment for last year's criminal acts has led to this year's recruitment of soldiers by Kremlin hires with the goal of officially creating terror in Kyiv, and not even covertly," according to a statement sent by patriotic organizations to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Committee on Nationality and Migration Issues.

"Disregarding the fact that the leaders of this mob publicly flaunt their readiness to spill blood, law enforcement organs haven't reacted to these facts in the least," said the statement released by the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, UNA-UNSO, OUN-UPA Soldiers Brotherhood, Youth Nationalist Congress and the National Alliance (a youth organization).

The pro-Russian forces are calling their event the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, which prosecuted Nazi leaders.

Although the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union submitted its request on September 13 to hold an event on behalf of the UPA veterans, the Communist Party didn't do so until October 6, just one week before the planned simultaneous event.

When asked by The Weekly why Kyiv was allowing a potential conflict to unfold, the director of the Kyiv Administration of Social-Political Issues, Valentyna Korovina, said the city government can't deny the request of organizations to hold public events, so long as they don't violate the Constitution of Ukraine.

A final attempt at compromise will be made, she said, requesting the UPA veterans and supporters to hold their event at St. Sophia Square, while the pro-Russian forces go to the Arch of Friendship Between Nations.

However, both sides are unlikely at this point to accept such a compromise and both plan to be on Independence Square as they have already announced to the public.

Last year, more than 3,000 pro-Russian protesters outnumbered the patriots and nationalists by three to one. At Independence Square, police cordoned off pro-Russian protesters on its east side, and patriotic forces to the west.

At least 3,000 UPA supporters are expected this year, arriving from other oblasts and cities, throughout the country organizers said.

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