Nationalists Keep Ukraine on Edge as Stability Is Elusive
By Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Jake Rudnitsky Mar 27, 2014 9:23 AM ET
Beneath the scorched, black facade of the Trade Union building in Kiev’s central square, armed nationalists who stoked the deadly overthrow of Ukraine’s previous rulers are undermining their successors.
A month after the uprising, militants in camouflage gear and flak jackets line up empty glass bottles ready to be turned into Molotov cocktails, defying demands to abandon their arms. Some of the protesters who fought riot police for regime change are now turning on the new administration. One of their commanders was killed in a firefight with police this week.
“The people who’re still here helped install the new authorities but now they want to slip out of our control,” said Vyacheslav, 40, a Pravyi Sektor activist in sand-colored U.S. military fatigues. He declined to give his last name because of the tensions. “We’ll stay to keep them in check.”
As Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk races to stave off bankruptcy and grapples with Russia’s takeover of Crimea, his interim cabinet is battling unrest among former allies within the country’s borders. Nationalist groups risk damaging security, discrediting the government and handing Russia a pretext to push its forces further into Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin says is in the grip of fascists.
Order, Corruption
Nationalists, including supporters of the anti-immigration Svoboda party, fought shoulder-to-shoulder with pro-European demonstrators for three months to topple President Viktor Yanukovych in street battles that cost more than 100 lives in the capital, Kiev.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/radicals-keep-ukraine-on-edge-as-loyalties-start-to-fray.html
