As gunfire and sirens overtook Kyiv on Feb. 21, police officers based in front of the parliament, deep inside the sealed off government block, felt hungry for information. They eagerly asked for the news and to see videos of snipers shooting the protesters to make sure the rumors were true.
There were thousands of them, and some have out here days without breaks, with no chance to change clothes or wash properly. There are a handful of conscripts among them who have been here for three months, they say.
Interior troops are made up of conscripts and contract soldiers, all aged between 18 and 25. They are typically placed in front of Berkut riot police during clashes. They are used like cannon fodder. Berkut riot-control police, with their long training and relatively high salaries, are too costly for the budget to lose.
As I approach a group of police officers in front of the Verkhovna Rada in the evening of Feb. 20, they are at first shy around my camera, but still friendly, offering up a seat near the fire barrels used to keep warm.
Those wood-burning barrels are dotted around the square that stretches from the parliament to Mariinsky Park, and are surrounded by plastic chairs, wooden palettes covered in mattresses where tired young men are sprawled to rest. The barrels also double as a barbecue. Some troopers cook sausages on long skewers or grill bread.
Despite the fact that none of them want to give their names to the press, they are quite chatty and are happy that a journalist has taken an interest in them. They say our kind are rare guests in their camps, and are very upset that nobody tells their story. They fume over coverage of EuroMaidan events by some media who they believe are too oppositional, such as Channel 5.
The young men are eager to talk about the conditions of their service. “Little one, come over here,” one of the older officers waves to a masked man lying on a mat. They say he is a conscript serving under their Interior Ministry, and he only has summer trousers to wear. They urge me to feel how thin the material is and explain how it’s different from what others are wearing – padded thick trousers better suited for the winter.
They say that everything they use for rest – mattresses and sheets, tableware they use for food and drinks, they have collected in Mariinsky Park where pro-government rallies used to be stationed. “See these bags?” they ask, pointing to the blue-and-white plastic bags with the pro-presidential Party of Regions slogans, full of food.
“But don’t write that we’re marauders,” one of them adds hastily. He proceeds to explain that their own equipment was left in Ukraine House, when it was taken over the protesters and troops retreated on Feb. 20. They say they were quite well-equipped to start with, but had to abandon everything in that camp. But the government failed to provide them with new supplies.
We talked about use of force by the protesters and the police, about the brutality of what’s going on. They are shocked to find out the number of victims, all with sniper gunshot wounds. Some of them do not seem to believe it, and become even more suspicious when they find out that the only footage of snipers so far comes from oppositional Channel 5 and Radio Free Europe, which is financed by the U.S. Government. They suspect foul play from the opposition.
Their opinions split over the leaked video of Berkut, the riot police, torturing a naked victim, Mykhailo Havryliuk, last month, forcing him to walk on snow and abusing him. One in the group says it’s appalling, but another one doubts authenticity of the video. He explains all the intricacies of the moments in that footage that gave him doubts, such as an artificial-looking black eye. His colleague, however, objects and says there is no reason to doubt, and that he wholeheartedly condemns provocations. “This is deplorable. Berkut are clearly guilty,” he says.
Just a few meters away, a unit commander rushes to his team as I try to take their photos. He says his name is Vitaliy, and he is 24. He says he has a friend on Maidan, but they no longer understand each other on the opposite sides of the barricades.
Vitaliy talks at length about the Right Sector. He calls them extremists. He says he and his people, when they were standing guard in various locations, have received numerous threats and insults from radicals of the Right Sector, including threats to their lives.
In one case, an extremist approached them with a spiky club and said: “You have 15 minutes to get out. Then I will come back and smash your brain.” He says the man and his friends returned in 15 minutes, they rat at the police troops (who carry no weapons and whose only protection is a bullet-proof vest), and made them run for their lives. He condemns these protesters. “They are no peaceful lot,” he says.
Vitaliy has a grudge against President Viktor Yanukovych. He says the president has not done enough to solve the crisis in three months, and allowed it to escalate. “Yes, I have those thoughts frequently,” he says. “But what can I do? I am under oath, I have to defend these buildings, and I don’t care who is in them and what their names are, Yanukovych or Yatseniuk.”
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reache at [email protected]
