Speaking to Channel 5 on April 2, acting presidential chief of staff Serhiy Pashynsky blamed Russia’s KGB-successor agency of ultimately being behind the “provocations” in Odesa and for arming separatists that claimed the lives of 37 people in the coastal city.
“That which we saw in Odesa was a (Russian) Federal Security
Service provocation to deflect attention from the anti-terrorist operation (in
eastern Ukraine),” said Pashynsky. They (the FSB) want to show that situation
(in the country) is not stable, but what happened in Odesa showed something
else, that the people’s patience has run out.”
He added that the FSB armed pro-Russian militants in Odesa.
In turn, Russia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the
April 2 violence in Odesa and blamed Kyiv’s leadership of “indulging
insolent nationalist radicals, including the Right Sector, who are staging a
campaign of physical terror against supporters of federalization and real
constitutional changes in the Ukrainian society.”
Odesa’s city council website states that an additional 214
activists were injured in battles between government supporters and
Russia-backed separatists. City authorities announced that May 3-5 will be days
of mourning.
Acting city mayor Oleh Bryndak called on
citizens to stay calm and don’t use force. “City authorities and law
enforcement agencies make every effort to restore order in Odesa,” reads
the statement published on the Odesa city council website.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych and staff writer Olena
Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
and [email protected],
respectively.
