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Russia’s Defense Ministry and Federal Security Service took part in the conspiracy to kill more than 100 EuroMaidan demonstrators, Ukraine’s top security official, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, alleged on April 3.

Ukrainian’s fugitive ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych, ordered and
orchestrated the killings, along with the former heads of the Security
Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, and the interior minister, who are also fugitives from mass murder charges, according to Nalyvaichenko.

Nalyvaichenko, who is current head of the SBU, said that two separate Russian groups – involving 30 special agents in all – conspired to plan and carry out an “anti-terrorist” operation that led to the murders, most of which took place in the days immediately preceding Yanukovych’s ouster from power on Feb. 21.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, along with its Federal Security Service – the KGB successor known by the FSB acronym — also supplied Ukraine’s law enforcement with more than five tons of various grenades and explosives that were used against peaceful activists.

Russia’s FSB refused to comment by phone and didn’t respond to an e-mailed inquiry before the Kyiv Post went to print. Russia’s Defense Ministry wasn’t available for comment.

Ukraine’s law enforcers are investigating the slayings of 76 protesters, including one journalist, as “intentional mass murder,” which carries a life sentence. Also under investigation are the deaths of more than a dozen law enforcement officers.

The ongoing criminal investigation combines 74 different cases culled from the Interior Ministry, SBU and General Prosecutor’s Office, said Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Most deaths occurred on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, the last day of which involved snipers picking off dozens of peaceful activists along Institutska Street, just a short distance away from the base of the protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.

Ukraine’s law enforcement officers on April 3 released film footage of the Feb. 20 sniper shootings of EuroMaidan Revolution demonstrators.

Oleh Makhnitsky, the general prosecutor, said 12 officers of the disbanded Berkut riot police unit have been arrested on suspicion of mass murder. Three of them were part of a special unit called Black Company, which had been issued automatic weapons and sniper rifles. Its commander, Major Dmytro Sadovnyk, is in custody. Avakov attributed 17 deaths to Black Company.

The April 3 announcement comes in the wake of eyewitness accounts, including law enforcement documents made public by ex-police General Gennadiy Moskal, that suggest police and SBU snipers were given orders to shoot both protesters and police to escalate the conflict and provoke a crackdown on the EuroMaidan demonstrators by law enforcement.

Makhnitsky alleged that the chain of command started with Yanukovych and went to the interior minister and SBU through the presidential administration. Yanukovych is hiding out in Russia, where he has appeared on TV three times denouncing the interim government, many of whom led the EuroMaidan Revolution.

Former SBU chief Oleksandr Yakymenko has also given an interview to Russian TV, accusing EuroMaidan organizers of being funded by the United States and hiring snipers. Both parties have denied accusations vigorously. Vitaliy Zakharchenko, the fugitive ex-interior minister, is also presumed to be in Russia.

Russian involvement

Two groups of 24 and six FSB agents lived in an elite Kyiv suburb, Koncha Zaspa, between Dec. 19-23 and Jan. 26-29. Nalyvaichenko says the SBU paid for their stay, provided them with security and made joint plans for the EuroMaidan crackdown of Feb. 18-20.

Moreover, 26 FSB agents were present at an SBU shooting range on Dec. 26, he alleges.
“We want to ask the Russian authorities what their names and ranks are and the exact purpose of their stay,” said Nalyvaichenko.

In addition, on Jan. 21 and Jan. 24, two airplanes from Russia delivered 5 tons of grenades and explosives, including ones that shoot from grenade launchers. Nalyvaichenko said an inquiry has been sent to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Alpha group, snipers
It was the SBU’s anti-terrorist Alpha Group, according to Nalyvaichenko, who stormed the House of Trade Unions on Feb. 18, which housed the revolution’s headquarters. It included a makeshift hospital, a kitchen, press center and sleeping rooms for the protesters.

Protesters fled the buildings because it was set on fire, and Alpha Group, who had taken over top three floors of the building, had to flee the same way it came – through the roof.

Seven Alpha Group snipers were also stationed near the Maidan on Feb. 18 at 7/11 Khreshchatyk Street and 6 Kostolna Street. The same group of seven snipers was engaged on Feb. 20, the bloodiest day in Ukraine’s independent history, but near the presidential administration, said Nalyvaichenko. Each time they were armed with German-made Blaser sniper rifles.

He wouldn’t say whether they had ever fired shots at protesters. Avakov added that many suspected former Berkut and Alpha Group officers are hiding out in Crimea “where they pose a national security threat to Ukraine.”

Four murder groups

Another group of murders was attributed to hired goons using arms allegedly supplied by the Interior Ministry. The same group is allegedly responsible for the death of protesters and a journalist. So far, there are more than 30 suspects in the four groups of murder, Avakov stated.

Coordinating the gang of hired thugs allegedly was Viktor Zubrytsky, the director of Kontakt media holding. He had a close relationship with ex-top cop Zakharchenko. The duo exchanged 230 phone calls over the span of two months. Avakov said Zubrytsky is currently in custody.

On Feb. 18-20, Zubrytsky allegedly coordinated two groups of hired goons that were stationed near St. Michael’s Square near Independence Square. Avakov attributed nine deaths to them: Vesti journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy, five protesters near Maidan and three more on Arsenalna Street near Marinsky Park.
The interior minister said the hooligans were based in a nearby office that belongs to Party of Regions lawmaker and close Yanukovych associate Yuriy Ivaniushchenko. Phone calls placed with Ivaniushchenko’s office number weren’t answered.

As the alleged coordinator,  Zubrytsky “handled all issues of money” related to paying the hired goons, for staging the rival pro-government demonstrations, the abductions and subsequent beatings and killings of protesters, and arson of vehicles belonging to activists, said Avakov.

Lviv native and EuroMaidan activist Yuriy Verbytsky was killed by people whose actions Zubrytsky had coordinated, Avakov alleged. Another activist, Ihor Lutsenko, who was kidnapped with Verbytsky and survived, had already identified one of his abductors.

“Everything had been done in full coordination with the interior ministry’s leadership,” said Avakov, adding that police supplied the hired goons with bullets and arms.

The three law enforcement and security chiefs evaded questions on whether any of the police deaths were attributed to other law enforcement members. “We are currently matching the bullets with the guns,” said Makhniytsky.

He added that the prosecutor’s office doesn’t know how many snipers were engaged on Feb. 18-20, and didn’t say whether they were all part of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

Authorities say they also have uncovered, through Zubrytsky, a group that stabbed, beat and set ablaze vehicles belonging to EuroMaidan protesters in Kharkiv. Locally, a group led by crime lord Serhiy Mykhailychenko and Yevhen Zhylin, the head of pro-Russian group Oplot organized the attacks. They all have been detained and confessed to the crimes, said Avakov.

Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova contributed to this article.