Supporters of the right-wing party Pravyi Sector (Right Sector) protest yesterday in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev.
Ukrainian authorities carried out an inspection tour of Kiev’s bomb shelters yesterday as lawmakers accused Russia of fomenting trouble in the Ukrainian capital after having annexed the Black Sea region of Crimea.
The new leadership seemed on edge after a far-right radical group that played a central role in the revolt that overthrew president Viktor Yanukovych rallied angrily outside parliament.
“They (Russia) did not manage to ignite the flame of separatism in our regions,” said acting president Oleksander Turchinov. “So now there are attempts to destabilise the situation in the heart of Ukraine, in Kiev.”
Tens of thousands of Russian troops thought to be massed on the border have shown no immediate sign of entering other parts of Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no designs on other parts of its smaller neighbour.
But Russia is expected to use every weapon in its economic arsenal to punish Ukraine for its U-turn towards Europe.
In an unusual step that added to a climate of apprehension, Kiev authorities announced they had carried out checks on more than 500 urban bomb shelters in the capital to ensure they were in good working order, and were working on a new early warning system for the population of the former Soviet republic.
“We have 526 defence installations (shelters) in Kiev ... today the city authorities are working to ensure that they are in appropriate technical condition to be able to guarantee the protection of people,” Volodymyr Bondarenko, head of the capital’s administration, said in a statement.
Ukraine’s new leaders, who took power after the pro-Russian Yanukovych fled on February 20 following three months of sometimes violent unrest, appeared unnerved after Right Sector, an ultra-radical group, staged a protest outside parliament on Thursday night and threatened similar action yesterday.
The group came to prominence during the three-month “Euromaidan” revolt against Yanukovych by breaking away from the largely peaceful demonstration to use violent tactics against police, throwing bombs and bricks.
Although unable at the time to condone the violent tactics used by the group, the then-opposition leaders who are now in power could not begrudge the part Right Sector played in eventually toppling Yanukovych.
However, Turchinov suggested yesterday that the group might be manipulated by Moscow into destabilising the country as it reels from Russia’s seizure of Crimea and seeks to recover from economic mismanagement.