Ukraine's Security Service starts nationwide counterterrorist operation
19 February 2014, 18:08
The Ukrainian Security Service and Antiterrorist Center are beginning an antiterrorist operation in the country, Ukrainian Security Service Head Oleksandr Yakymenko said in a statement released on Wednesday.
'The Ukrainian Security Service and Antiterrorist Center decided today to start holding an antiterrorist operation in Ukraine : I have already informed the president of the decision regarding holding the antiterrorist operation,' the document said.
The events of the past day showed 'growing escalation of forceful resistance and mass use of arms by extremist-minded groups,' Yakymenko said.
'In many regions of the country local authorities, structures of the Interior Ministry, Security Service, prosecutor's office, military units and storage facilities with ammunition are being seized. Court offices are burning and vandals are destroying private apartments and killing civilians,' the statement said.
In the past 24 hours alone over 1,500 units of firearms and 100,000 pieces of ammunition ended up in criminal hands, Yakymenko said.
Ukraine: weapons, ammunition stolen from Security Service department
Weapons and ammunition have been stolen from a Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) department in the Ivano-Frankovsk region, said Volodymyr Porodko, deputy head of the Ukrainian Security Service.
'A total of 268 service pistols, two rifles, three assault rifles, 92 grenades, and some 15,000 cartridges were seized in a Ukrainian Security Service department in the Ivano-Frankovsk region,' SBU deputy head Vladimir Porodko said at a meeting with foreign ambassadors at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
Ukrainian Security Council switches to high terrorist alert regime
The Ukrainian Security Service has switched to a high terrorist alert regime, Ukrainian Security Service Deputy Head Volodymyr Porodko said. 'In accordance with the law on fighting terrorism, the Ukrainian Security Service was forced to switch this morning to a higher state of readiness,' Porodko said at a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
'In accordance with the law on fighting terrorism, the Ukrainian Security Service was forced to switch this morning to a higher state of readiness,' Porodko said at a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
Arms, ammo stolen from Ukrainian security service department in Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Escalation of violence in Ukraine: ways out of crisis
International relations expert and political scientist Sergey Tolstov believes that the events in Kiev on February 18 have drawn some kind of a line: 'We had a peaceful political process, there were quite tolerable relations in society, and now, it's all broken. That is, instead of washing a dinner service and putting it on a shelf, people decided to break it in order to not wash it. Now, we're witnessing this breaking, and its making the conditions of life in our country unsuitable for life. I don't know how many people should be killed for the participants of the political actions to realize their responsibility.'
According to the expert, it is termination of the military confrontation that should be at issue: 'If the opposition publicly separates itself from the radicals, this rebellion would be suppressed.'
Head of the Ukrainian Association of Political Sciences, Valery Bebik, believes that one of the main problems lies in the fact that the Amnesty Law put a part of the protesters outside the negotiation process. 'People do not support the parliamentary opposition, nor do they support the authorities or another Constitution. They oppose the beating of students. This people's voice was not heard. It is necessary to include other political structures that are influential on the Maidan in the negotiation process. People were not heard, and today, we have this explosion. There are inspirations, both on the part of Russia and the EU. Ukraine has become a communications courtyard for intelligence agencies, which are pulling all the strings through provocateurs.'
Political scientist Vadim Karasev outlined two scenarios: a forceful scenario with unpredictable consequences and a disavowal of any ultimatums.
'The parties may agree and give guarantees to each other; and if some side can't calm its radicals, that party is not capable of coming to an agreement. It is always necessary to control one's supporters. One should also be aware that the whole country is the negotiating table. We must think about early parliamentary elections. Let other politicians prepare a new Constitution, let them work for a year as a Constitutional Assembly, which will prepare and adopt a new Constitution, and the country will gradually adopt the constitutional order.'
In his turn, in an interview with the Voice of the Capital, political technologist Taras Berezovets expressed confidence that today's events were a result of the Verkhovna Rada's refusal to register bills introducing amendments to the Constitution:
'It was the coup de grace to people's patience. It is also not right to say that the opposition backs today's events, because the protesters are not oriented at the opposition. Killings of peaceful civilians in the centre of the capital lie on the conscience of the Ukrainian police and its leaders, who gave orders to use firearms.'
According to the expert, after the blood was shed in the capital, there remain fewer and fewer chances for a political settlement. But he believes that a possibility of a political compromise lies in an immediate return to consideration of the Constitution of 2004, and also in appointing early presidential and parliamentary elections as well as in negotiations with the participation of international mediators from the EU, the US and Russia.
Voice of Russia, Voice of the Capital (Kiev), Interfax, RIA
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