AI
Friday, October 10, 2014 8:19:04 AM
Thug Politics, Kiev
Oleh Lyashko gets into fist fights, kidnaps rebels, and supplies militias (or so he
claims). Meet the radical populist who could play kingmaker in post-Maidan Ukraine.
BY Charles McPhedran
OCTOBER 9, 2014
[...]
But the oligarchs are not the only ones who think that Lyashko's statements should be carefully fact-checked. Lyashko's brigades dispute his claims that he set them up. One commander with the Azov Battalion says he is "grateful" for Lyashko's help in arming his troops, but, he points out, the nationalist organizations that provided recruits to the brigade already existed under Yanukovych. "He is just one of many who helped us," Oleg Odnorozhenko, the first deputy commander of the Azov Battalion, said in an interview from the front line in southeastern Ukraine. "And he has also taken part in our operations arresting separatists. But we view those as police ... operations."
Those arrests of pro-Russians -- or kidnappings, as human rights activists describe them -- have become a prominent weapon in Lyashko's political arsenal. He even posts videos of them online. In one video that has garnered particular notoriety, he interrogates a flabby man tied up and wearing only his underwear. A cut is visible on his right arm and leg as he identifies himself as former Donetsk People's Republic Defense Minister Igor Kakidzyanov. Lyashko accuses Kakidzyanov and an associate of betraying their country, helping occupiers, and engaging in terrorism. "How much did you get for killing people?" Lyashko yells. After Kakidzyanov mumbles an inaudible response, Lyashko continues with his interrogation: "Did you do it for free then? Was that the idea? What is your idea anyway?"
Kakidzyanov responds that he was only trying to help people express their will. "So did you shoot at people for that idea?" Lyashko asks him. Opposite the separatist leader, Kakidzyanov's associate sits, his hands bound, as he cries softly.
[...]
Photo: Wikimedia
more with links .. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/09/thug_politics_kiev_oleh_lyashko_radical_ukraine
.. tough school ..
Oleh Lyashko gets into fist fights, kidnaps rebels, and supplies militias (or so he
claims). Meet the radical populist who could play kingmaker in post-Maidan Ukraine.
BY Charles McPhedran
OCTOBER 9, 2014
[...]
But the oligarchs are not the only ones who think that Lyashko's statements should be carefully fact-checked. Lyashko's brigades dispute his claims that he set them up. One commander with the Azov Battalion says he is "grateful" for Lyashko's help in arming his troops, but, he points out, the nationalist organizations that provided recruits to the brigade already existed under Yanukovych. "He is just one of many who helped us," Oleg Odnorozhenko, the first deputy commander of the Azov Battalion, said in an interview from the front line in southeastern Ukraine. "And he has also taken part in our operations arresting separatists. But we view those as police ... operations."
Those arrests of pro-Russians -- or kidnappings, as human rights activists describe them -- have become a prominent weapon in Lyashko's political arsenal. He even posts videos of them online. In one video that has garnered particular notoriety, he interrogates a flabby man tied up and wearing only his underwear. A cut is visible on his right arm and leg as he identifies himself as former Donetsk People's Republic Defense Minister Igor Kakidzyanov. Lyashko accuses Kakidzyanov and an associate of betraying their country, helping occupiers, and engaging in terrorism. "How much did you get for killing people?" Lyashko yells. After Kakidzyanov mumbles an inaudible response, Lyashko continues with his interrogation: "Did you do it for free then? Was that the idea? What is your idea anyway?"
Kakidzyanov responds that he was only trying to help people express their will. "So did you shoot at people for that idea?" Lyashko asks him. Opposite the separatist leader, Kakidzyanov's associate sits, his hands bound, as he cries softly.
[...]
Photo: Wikimedia
more with links .. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/09/thug_politics_kiev_oleh_lyashko_radical_ukraine
.. tough school ..
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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