You're reading: Right Sector defies government’s calls to pull out of frontline

As the Ukrainian government seeks to merge volunteer battalions fighting in the east into the country's official armed forces, one group has defiantly refused to lay down their arms.

Right Sector, a far-right paramilitary group
that was instrumental in the Euromaidan protests that saw Kremlin-backed
President Viktor Yanukovych overthrown, has called the Defense Ministry’s
proposal to join the armed forces “traitorous” and said they have no intention
of obeying the order.

The move could throw a wrench into the plans of
the Defense Ministry to bring order to all the volunteer forces fighting
pro-Russian separatists in the east, where spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said
it was vital for the various regiments to be “structured and systematized and
clearly regulated and managed.”

Throughout the Ukraine conflict, private
battalions have fought alongside Ukraine’s regular forces to prevent
pro-Russian separatists from gaining more territory, but many have expressed
concerns that such groups have no one to answer to, no official supervision and
unclear sources of financing. Human rights groups have repeatedly sounded the
alarm over major abuses by such groups, including arbitrary detentions,
enforced disappearances and torture.

The government’s initiative to conduct
housekeeping of such battalions is meant to both resolve these issues and
bolster Ukraine’s own government forces.

The order for volunteer fighters to either join
the Ukrainian government forces or leave the counter-terrorism zones in the
east came down from the head of Ukraine’s Security Service on March 25.

“Now is the time for both the military
leadership and the leadership of the Interior Ministry, as well as the
leadership of the SBU, to take care of fighters in the counter-terrorism zones,
by providing them with the legal status they deserve, the opportunity to
legally enter into the official armed forces … All those who do not want to do
so must give up their weapons and select a different mode of behavior – leave
the ATO zones, but more importantly, not create and not be a part of any
illegal paramilitary groups,” Valentin Nalivaichenko said in comments to Interfax-Ukraine.

Right Sector has been given until March 27 to leave the
frontlines in conflict-stricken Mariupol and until April 1 to leave counter-terrorism zones completely,
according to the group.

Artyom Skoropadsky, the group’s spokesman, said
they had no intention of obeying the order, however – and that there was little
the Defense Ministry could do about it.

“From the very start of the war, we have been
negotiating with the Defense Ministry to make us a part of the ministry but as
a separate division. But they just keep saying, ‘No, you guys just dismantle
and join the armed forces.’ That doesn’t suit us,” he said, noting that Right
Sector was often more effective than the armed forces.

“We’ve already proven with our actions, the
feats of our fighters – unfortunately the deaths of many of our fighters – that
we are prepared to fight, to defend Ukraine. We aren’t going anywhere, and the
suggestion that we would is just crazy,” Skoropadsky said. “I don’t even know
what they were thinking when they voiced such a proposal,” he said.

Skoropadsky said the group would pull out only
on the orders of their leader, Dmytro Yarosh, who has yet to comment on the
matter and was unavailable on March 26.

“They’re taking away our right to war,” said
Artyom Lutsak, the chief of staff of the group’s 8th independent
division. “Neutralizing the volunteer forces is betrayal,” he said.

Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Defense
Ministry, played down the idea that Right Sector had been issued an ultimatum,
saying they had simply been offered the chance to take part in a “mutually
beneficial process” to become a part of the official armed forces.

He said that as far as he knew, the group was
still considering the offer, and that they had “taken a time-out to think.”

Seleznyov noted that the official military
wants to ensure that all fighters are “professional, well-trained and
motivated, who possess military experience and are prepared to defend Ukraine
and its people until the very end.”

As for what would happen if Right Sector
refused the offer, Seleznyov said they would figure that out “when we get to
it.”

“No ultimatum was given to Right Sector. We
simply offered them the chance to officially become a part of the National
Guard. The other option is to join the armed forces. They asked for time to
consider this proposal. … We are counting on their understanding and are
awaiting a response,” he said.

The OUN battalion, another volunteer battalion
in the east that is not subordinate to government forces, said they were
prepared to get official status but would not leave the front until they did.

“Endless negotiations seem to be going on to
get legalized. They are not denying us the right to do so outright, but there
are constantly new negotiations and circumstances,” Lidia Guzhva said.

For now, she said, the battalion, based near
Donetsk, is getting many promises of legalization but has yet to see any
results.

Oleg Sushinsky, a spokesman for Sector M, part
of the government’s defense forces, said in comments to Ukrainian media on
March 26 that there were already plenty of government battalions serving in
Mariupol, and that Right Sector wasn’t needed there.

“They want to fight. But they can’t do it this way.
There are civilians, and then there are soldiers. If they consider themselves
professionals, let them enroll officially,” Sushinsky was cited as saying.

Skoropadsky was adamant that the Right Sector
would settle for nothing less than getting their own separate division, saying
there was not much the Defense Ministry could do to force Right Sector to
comply.

“They can’t take any actions against us. What
could they do? The army can’t fight against Right Sector, that would be absurd.
Right Sector has huge authority,” he said.