Far-right paramilitary leader vows protest defiance in Ukraine
Dmytro Yarosh leads the far-right Pravy Sektor movement in Kiev that has been at the forefront of violent clashes with security forces and he has radical views on Ukraine's future
Even as Ukraine’s main opposition leaders meet with the authorities to try to resolve their long-running stand-off, one influential and unrepentant voice stands out – that of far-right paramilitary leader Dmytro Yarosh.
“The revolution will win in Ukraine!” the shaven-headed 42-year-old said in a rare interview at his field headquarters – an entire floor in an occupied trade union building on Independence Square in central Kiev.
Yarosh’s masked and helmeted followers – some armed with guns, others wielding baseball bats – patrol the barricades around the protest tent camp and were in the frontlines of clashes with riot police, throwing Molotov cocktails.
“We got things moving, we breathed life into the revolution,” said Yarosh, himself a former Red Army soldier who claims he is no fascist but a nationalist defending Ukraine against foreign domination – whether from the European Union or Russia.
Getting to Yarosh is no easy task as he is jealously guarded by the 500 mostly young members of his group Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), who sleep in the corridors of the HQ next to their improvised gear like a makeshift army.
“The government is collapsing and is weak. We can push it to the end,” said Yarosh, who had a bullet-proof vest slung on the chair in his office and a thin camping mattress on the floor.