Andreas Umland: The allegedly crucial role of the Right Sector (RS) in the violent clashes in Kyiv has, to my knowledge, nowhere been substantiated with convincing empirical evidence yet. Some of the supposed salience of the RS seems a media bubble created, not the least in Russia, for propaganda purposes and, in the West, for sensationalist reporting. Some numbers circulating via Wikipedia are that up to 3,000 of the up to 30,000 Euromaidan self-defense forces (Samooborona), in Kyiv, may have been RS people. Yet, that is all speculation so far, it seems. NONE of the more than 100 hundred killed (Nebesna Sotnia/Heavenly Hundred) has yet been identified as an RS member. I have also not seen a convincing demonstration that the RS is neo-Nazi, as claimed in numerous media reports which may sometimes mix up the RS with the neo-Nazi C14 group that seemingly consists of about 200 people. The RS is radically nationalist and para-militarily organized - but that is not necessarily an expression of neo-Nazism.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:56:30 +0000
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