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Right Sector (Template:Lang-uk, Pravyi Sektor) is a radical nationalist paramilitary Ukrainian opposition group According to various reports, the organization has between 2,000 and 3,000 active members in Kiev. Right Sector is an alliance of a number of nationalist and far-right splinter groups, as well as the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence (UNA-UNSO). It first emerged at the end of November 2013 at Euromaidan in Kiev.

History

Right sector traces its origins back to Ukrainians who fought alongside Germany and against the Soviet Union during the Second World War (a group known as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists or OUN).

Right Sector became one of the main actors in the January 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots, a part of the Euromaidan protests, in their later and more violent stages. Right Sector's entry into the protests in Kiev brought weapons and armed fighters into the standoff, leading violent confrontations with police and promoting the overthrow of the Yanukovych government. On 19 January 2014 Right Sector encouraged its members to bring bottles to the protests in order to produce molotov cocktails and bombs. The former Yanukovich's government classified Right Sector as an extremist movement, threatening its members with imprisonment.

According to Volodymyr Ishchenko, in an op-ed piece on The Guardian, Right Sector was responsible for the violent 1 December 2013 attack on the Ukrainian administration, and has led other violent provocations with police. The leader of Right Sector, Dmitro Yarosh, has stated that Right Sector has amassed a lethal arsenal of weapons.

In February 2014, Right Sector issued a statement warning of the possibility of attack by Russian or Ukrainian police operatives, leading the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) to announce that it was on heightened alert. In response, fearing a staged provocation for which it could be blamed, Right Sector stated that it was planning no terrorist attacks and that it opposed terrorist political tactics.

Following the collapse of the Yanukovych government in 2014, Right Sector leaders visited the Israeli embassy in Ukraine, telling Israeli ambassador Reuven Din-El that the group rejects anti-semitism, chauvinism, and xenophobia.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Yanukovych government, Yarosh and Victoria Siumar were proposed as possible deputies to the National Security and Defense Council.

Ideology

The group has been described as having right-wing, ultra right-wing, borderline fascist or neofascist views.

According to some Right Sector members and Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh, the organization is affiliated with or composed of several smaller, extreme-right and nationalist groups including "Trident", "Patriot of Ukraine", "White Hammer" and the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence. One Right Sector member, Andriy Tarasenko, has stated that the organization was set up in late November 2013 and "most participants are just ordinary citizens having no relation to any organizations."

In an interview, Yarosh has stated that Right Sector and Svoboda "have a lot of common positions when it comes to ideological questions," but that Right Sector “absolutely don’t accept certain racist things they share.”

Speaking about his attitude towards non-Ukrainians, Yarosh referred to controversial WWII figure Stepan Bandera as a model. For those fighting with Right Sector "for Ukraine," Yarosh stated that they should be treated "as comrades." For those opposing "the Ukrainian people's national liberation struggle," Yarosh stated that they should be treated "in a hostile way." Like many Ukrainian nationalists, Right Sector uses red-and-black symbols, similar to the battle flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Aleksander Muzychko, a Right Sector leader, has pledged to fight "Jews and Russians until I die." Muzychko was videotaped physically assaulting a Ukrainian public prosecutor in his office, threatening to pull him to Maidan square with a rope.

Journalist Oleg Shynkarenko has written that Right Sector's support for "traditional morals and family values, against the cult of profit and depravity," implies opposition to homosexuality, and the estimation of the "rights of the nation" against "human rights."

Right Sector member Andrey Tarasenko has said that European integration is not a goal of the group, but a path to government. "Integration with Europe means death for Ukraine, because Brussels' bureaucratic "monster" is doing everything in order to neutralize national identity and traditional family, has supported an anti-Christian policy, and will lead to death for a state and Christianity. We want to create Ukraine for ethnic Ukrainians, managed by Ukrainians, Ukraine that is not serving to the interests of the other states".

References

1. ^ Shuster, Simon (4 February 2014). "Exclusive: Leader of Far-Right Ukrainian Militant Group Talks Revolution With TIME". Time. Retrieved 25 February 2014. Cite error: The named reference "timeshuster" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. "Coup in Ukraine: A warning to the international working class". World Socialist Web Site. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
3. Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest, BBC am 1. Februar 2014
4. Die Extremisten vom Majdan, FAZ vom 23. Februar 2014
5. ^ ""We did not overthrow the government to deliver it to US & EU" – Ukraine". European Union Times. 25 February 2014. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
6. "Right Sector confirms its participation in events at Hrushevskoho". Radio Svoboda. 23 January 2014.
7. ^ Profile: Ukraine's key protest figures, BBC News (27 January 2014)
8. Radicals a wild card in Ukraine’s protests, The Washington Post (2 February 2014)
9. ^ Shynkarenko, Oleg (3 March 2014). "Can Ukraine Control Its Far Right Ultranationalists?". Retrieved 4 March 2014.
10. ^ Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest, BBC News (1 February 2014)
11. Eugen Theise, "Radical 'Pravy Sektor' group shifts Kyiv protests to the right," Deutsche Welle World (11 February 2014). Retrieved 01 March 2014.
12. Ishchenko, Volodymyr (22 January 2014). "Ukraine protests are no longer just about Europe". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
13. "Ukrainian emergencies service put on heightened alert amid protests". BBC Monitoring Kiev Unit. 12 February. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. "Ukrainian right-wing group denies plotting terrorist attacks". BBC Monitoring Kiev Unit. 12 February 2013. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
15. Template:Uk icon "Правий сектор" запевнив посла Ізраїлю, що відкидає антисемітизм, Ukrainian Pravda (27 February 2014). Retrieved 3 March 2014.
16. Olearchyk, Roman (26 February 2014). "Arseniy Yatseniuk poised to become Ukraine prime minister". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 February 2014. In a bid to appease protesters demanding an end to government corruption, Mr Yatseniuk's cabinet will have civic activists to oversee it. Andriy Parubiy, a lawmaker who served as commander of the protest movement's guards, was chosen to serve as chair of the national security and defence council. Victoria Siumar, a civil society activist, and Dmytro Yarosh, head of Right Sector, a militant protest group, were proposed as his deputies.
17. Ghosh, Palash (19 February 2014). "Euromaidan: The Dark Shadows Of The Far-Right In Ukraine Protests". International Business Times. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
18. Ishchenko, Volodymyr (7 February 2014). "Ukrainian protesters must make a decisive break with the far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
19. McPhedran, Charles; Luigi Serenelli (27 February 2014). "Ukraine protesters unsatisfied with presidential field". USA Today. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
20. "Opposition in western Ukrainian region sets up self-defence units". BBC Monitoring Kiev Unit. 10 February 2013. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
21. ^ English translation of an interview with the leader of Right Sector by Ukrayinska Pravda's Mustafa Nayem and Oksana Kovalenko. Ukrainian original published by Ukrayinska Pravda on 4 February 2014. English translation by William J Risch, published by Sean Guillory on his blog on 7 February 2014.
22. "Бандерівець". February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.
23. "ARE US AND EU BACKING NEO NAZIS IN UKRAINE?". Eurasia Review. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.

v t e Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity
21 November 2013 – 23 February 2014
Main topics	Timeline of the Euromaidan Domestic responses to the Euromaidan International reactions to the Euromaidan Casualties Heavenly Hundred Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes Damaged communist monuments
Main events	1 December 2013 riots Fall of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv 11 December 2013 assault Ukrainian–Russian action plan Anti-Maidan Vasylkiv terrorists case Anti-protest laws in Ukraine 2014 Odesa clashes 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots 2014 RSA occupations Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine Revolution of Dignity
Aftermath	2014 pro-Russian unrest Timeline Russian military intervention 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia Timeline War in Donbas timeline First Yatsenyuk government Lustration in Ukraine Decommunization in Ukraine
Elections	2014 Ukrainian presidential election 2014 Ukrainian local elections 2014 Kyiv local election 2014 Crimean status referendum 2014 Donbas status referendums 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Main places	Maidan Nezalezhnosti Mezhyhirya Khreshchatyk Lypky Bankova Street European Square Hrushevskoho Street Dynamo Stadium Kyiv City Council Trade Unions Building Ukrainian House Mariinskyi Park October Palace Kyiv Conservatory
European integration	Ukraine–European Union relations Eastern Partnership European Union Association Agreement European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement Constitution of Ukraine
Protest figures	Organizations Maidan People's Union Euromaidan Press Parliamentary opposition parties Batkivshchyna Svoboda UDAR Other parties Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists Democratic Alliance UNA–UNSO United Left and Peasants Civic organizations Automaidan Road Control Vidsich Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Militant groups Right Sector Spilna Sprava Lead figures Vitali Klitschko Arseniy Yatsenyuk Oleh Tyahnybok Petro Poroshenko Yuriy Lutsenko Oleksandr Turchynov Yulia Tymoshenko Andriy Parubiy Andriy Sadovyi Arsen Avakov Ruslana Tetiana Chornovol Dmytro Bulatov Dmytro Yarosh Refat Chubarov
Anti-protest figures	Organizations Second Azarov government Ministry of Internal Affairs Internal Troops of Ukraine Security Service of Ukraine Berkut Militsiya (Ukraine) Party of Regions Titushky Night Wolves Don Cossacks Antimaidan Lead figures Viktor Yanukovych Mykola Azarov Serhiy Arbuzov Vitaliy Zakharchenko Oleksandr Yefremov Andriy Klyuyev Hennadiy Kernes Mykhailo Dobkin Viktor Pshonka Olena Lukash Yuriy Boyko Leonid Kozhara Dmytro Tabachnyk Oleksandr Klymenko

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