UKRAINE-CRISIS/RIGHT SECTOR Ukraine's Poroshenko says 'illegal groups' must disarm after standoff

Record ID: 147375

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/RIGHT SECTOR Ukraine's Poroshenko says 'illegal groups' must disarm after standoff
  • Date: 13th July 2015
  • Summary: VILLAGE OF LAVKY, ZAKARPATTIA REGION, UKRAINE (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE AND NATIONAL GUARD ON ROAD CHECKPOINT VARIOUS OF NATIONAL GUARD NATIONAL GUARDS AND POLICE OFFICER FLASH LIGHT ON POLICE CAR ARMORED VEHICLE IN BUSHES WOMAN WALKING IN STREET EMPTY STREET VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AROUND APC GUN ON APC VARIOUS OF AMBULANCES SPECIAL FORCE UNITS WALKING IN STREET APC AN
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEAMJIOS736YPBBQCX76CWPL1I
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: President Petro Poroshenko ordered Ukraine's security services and police on Monday (July 13) to disarm "illegal groups", saying they threatened to further destabilise a country fighting separatists in its east.
    Poroshenko said a weekend standoff between members of a far-right group and police in the western town of Mukacheve, close to the border with Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, was simply a turf war over smuggling routes.
    But he appeared to take aim at Right Sector, which played a prominent role in protests that toppled Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich last year, saying no political force should operate armed cells in Ukraine and run "criminal cells".
    The far-right nationalist group demanded the resignation of the interior minister at the weekend after two of its members were killed in a fire fight with police in Mukacheve, where it said it was set upon by police. The Interior Ministry said the group shot first.
    In his statement Poroshenko linked these events with the Kiev's fight against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.
    "The escalation of tensions on the confrontation line in Donbass which was reported by (Ukrainian Army Chief of staff) General Colonel Muzhenko was miraculously synchronized with an attempt to destabilise the situation in the rearward, moreover in a deep rearward, thousand of kilometers from the frontline," Poroshenko said.
    He also said there needed to be a tough investigation into the events there and that the Interior Ministry, security services and other law enforcement officials must disarm "all illegal armed groups".
    "It is a discreditation of the real Ukrainian patriots. No political force should have and will not have any kind of armed cells," Poroshenko said.
    Poroshenko said last week the flow of arms from the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the east increased the risk of serious crime in Ukraine, where corruption flourished under Yanukovich and where the authorities are under fire for not reforming the justice system quickly enough.
    The situation was calmer in Mukacheve on Monday but it was not clear whether Right Sector, in turn hailed or blamed for injecting violence into last year's Maidan protests, had downed arms as demanded by the police.
    Right Sector has defended its right to hold arms, saying they must protect Ukraine from attempts to derail their demands for a new way of governing and from 'outside forces', mainly Russia, to destabilise the country.
    But officials have questioned the need to hold arms in western Ukraine, thousands of kilometres from the east, where fighting has killed more than 6,500 people and forced more than 1.5 million to abandon their homes.
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