Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has accused the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" and its leader Oleh Tiahnybok of clashes outside the parliament building on Aug. 31.
“I directly accuse Oleh Tiahnybok and his Svoboda party. I consider it a crime, not a political position,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
“I don’t know what this is for, and why he would need this. Is it just because he is not currently in government? Serving to Ukraine could mean this: apply yourself, serve and move on. That is the way it will be with everyone, with me and all the rest,” the minister said.
“Tiahnybok did not bring protestors to the Verkhovna Rada, he brought gangsters who killed and maimed our soldiers. This is my position,” Avakov said.
The interior minister is convinced that what happened outside the parliament has nothing to do with expressing one’s political position. “I don’t know what the reason is, why our soldiers have to die outside the walls of Verkhovna Rada. I see not one political reason or political difference why someone has to injure National Guard soldiers,” the minister said.
He also said that around 20 of those injured are soldiers and officers who took part in the anti-terrorist operation, received state awards and early ranks.
“Do we have to keep them outside the Verkhovna Rada to pay for somebody’s political ambitions?” the minister said.
Avakov also said that he had seen video footage and photos showing “Mr. Tiahnybok standing nearby when a National Guard soldier was beaten.”
