VZCZCXRO0234
PP RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHKV #2323/01 3311152
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261152Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6792
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 002323 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI UP
SUBJECT: SUBJECT:  UKRAINE'S MAIN EXTREMIST GROUPS 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) Extremist groups in Ukraine espouse a wide range of 
ideologies.  Groups such as the UNA-UNSO and Patriot of 
Ukraine are ultra nationalists while the Ukrainian 
National-Labor Party and the Ukrainian Movement Against 
Illegal Immigration have a neo-Nazi following.  The group 
Bratsvo has an anarchic outlook while the Russia-based 
Eurasian Youth Union promotes Russian neo-imperialism.  These 
fringe groups lack political clout but promote intolerant 
ideologies, which can influence alienated youth and 
contribute to social problems such as hate crimes.  The 
Embassy has compiled background information from open sources 
on these groups.  End Summary. 
 
UNA-UNSO 
-------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Ukrainian National Assembly/Ukrainian National 
Self-Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO) is a right-wing 
nationalist organization and registered political party 
founded in 1990 by Yuriy Shukhevych, son of Ukrainian 
Insurgent Army (UPA) commander Roman Shukhevych.  Originally 
a coalition of nationalist groups that venerated Mussolini, 
it declared itself a political party in 1991.  In response to 
the August 1991 anti-Gorbachev coup attempt, the organization 
formed a paramilitary wing - the Ukrainian People's Self 
Defense Organization (UNSO).  UNSO fighters were reported to 
have participated in the 1992 Moldova-Tranistria conflict 
against Moldovan forces, the 1993 Georgia-Abkhazia war on the 
side of Georgia, the 1995 conflict in Chechnya on the side of 
the Chechyens, and in the 1999 Kosovo conflict on the side of 
the Serbs. 
 
¶3.  (U) The organization first registered as a political 
party in 1994 and was subsequently deregistered in 1995 for 
its radicalism.  It was reregistered in 1997.  UNA-UNSO has 
limited representation on local councils in western Ukraine 
and received 16,379 votes in the March 2006 Rada elections. 
It was involved in the "Ukraine without Kuchma" movement in 
2000-2001 and 18 of its members were arrested for violent 
clashes with police, including Andriy Skhil, who later left 
the party and is now an MP with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc. 
UNA-UNSO supported Yushchenko in the 2004 elections. 
 
Bratsvo (Brotherhood) 
--------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) A civic movement without clear ideology or platform 
founded in 2002 by Dmytro Korchynskiy, a former UNA-UNSO 
activist.  The movement focuses on radical means to change 
the political process and honors disparate figures such as 
Stalin and Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian Nationalist who headed 
the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) 1940-1944. 
In 2004 Korchynskiy ran for president and got 0.17 percent. 
In 2005 Bratsvo joined forces with Natalia Vitrenko's extreme 
left-wing Progressive Socialist Party in an unsuccessful 
effort to attract votes for the 2006 parliamentary elections. 
 
 
Patriot of Ukraine 
------------------ 
 
¶5.  (U) Originally the youth wing of the Svoboda political 
party, it was dissolved in 2004.  In 2005, it was registered 
as a civic organization and is not officially connected with 
Svoboda or any other political party.  Patriot of Ukraine 
protested against Kharkiv court rulings making Russian the 
second official language in the city.  It has local branches 
in Kyiv (2006), Poltava (2008), and Chernihiv (2008).  Its 
official ideology is Social Nationalism, a cult of the nation 
within a state, which is anti-immigrant ("Ukraine for 
Ukrainians"), anti-capitalist, and anti-globalist.  In April 
2008, it began to cooperate with organizations such as the 
Ukrainian National-Labor Party and pro-Russian Crimean 
Cossack groups. 
 
Ukrainian National-Labor Party 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (U) An unregistered organization led by Yevhen 
Herasymenko.  This party bases its ideology on 
national-socialism.  Its members are mainly skinheads and 
neo-Nazis believed to have been involved in physical attacks 
against minorities.  It has regional representation in the 
cites of Simferopol, Uman, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, 
Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovograd, Lviv, Kotovsk, Rivne, 
Ternopil, Kharkiv, and Kherson.  The organization is reported 
to cooperate with Svoboda and the Ukrainian Conservative 
Party lead by the president of the Interregional Academy for 
Personnel Management (MAUP) Heorhiy Shchokin, known for 
 
KYIV 00002323  002 OF 002 
 
 
promoting anti-Semitism. 
 
Ukrainian Movement Against Illegal Immigration 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7.  (U) This unregistered organization, which is reported to 
have a following among neo-Nazis, promotes white supremacy 
and is opposed to immigrants - especially from Asia and 
Africa.  The movement has two wings, a pro-Russian wing 
mostly based in Crimea and a pro-Ukrainian wing.  Some 
experts allege that both wings get financing and guidance 
from Russia while others assert that the two wings are 
independent of one another and have ideological differences. 
The pro-Ukrainian movement is headed by Oleksander Bielov. 
 
Eurasian Youth Union 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) The organization was established in February 2005 in 
Russia as a youth wing of the International Eurasian Movement 
led by Aleksandr Dugan.  With its leadership based in Moscow, 
it claims to have branches in Ukraine, Moldova, Transnistria, 
Belarus, the UK, Turkey, and Poland.  In Ukraine, it has a 
presence in 15 oblasts and is most active in Crimea, as well 
as in the cities of Sumy, Donetsk, Kyiv, and Kharkiv.  The 
organization's ideology favors Russian imperialism and is 
opposed to the "color" revolutions in the post-Soviet space. 
It is extremist and anti-American.  Analysts allege that it 
is controlled by the Kremlin.  In August 2007, a Kharkiv 
court banned the organization for destroying a memorial sign 
to UPA soldiers in the city.  Its activists vandalized 
Ukrainian national symbols on Hoverla Mountain in October 
¶2007. 
TAYLOR