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Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence

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Ukrainian National Assembly
Українська Національна Асамблея
Founded3/4 November 1990
Dissolved22 May 2014 (political wing only)[1]
Merged intoRight Sector (political wing only)[1]
HeadquartersKyiv
Paramilitary WingUkrainian National Self Defense
Membership (2006)8,000[2]
IdeologyUkrainian nationalism
Ukrainian irredentism
Pan-Slavism[3]
Anti-communism
Political positionFar-right[4][5]
ColoursRed, black
Slogan"Glory to the Nation, death to the enemies!"
AnthemStay, my love, don't cry, honey
Party flag
Website
unso.in.ua
UNSO
УНСО
Dates of operation1994–present
Group(s)"Argo"
"Viking"
Active regionsUkraine
Ideology
Part ofUNA-UNSO (until 22 May 2014)
Ukrainian territorial defence battalions (2022-present)
Allies Armed Forces of Ukraine
 Georgia
 Russian Federation (Transnistria War)
 Transnistria (Transnistria War)
 Azerbaijan[6][7][8][9]
 Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia[10]
Belarusian opposition
[11]
Opponents Russian Federation (Russo-Ukrainian War)
 Moldova (Transnistria War)
 Romania[12] (Transnistria War)[13]
Abkhazia Abkhazia
Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus
 Armenia[6][7][8][9]
 Republic of Artsakh[6][7][8][9]
Pro-Russian separatists
Kosovo Liberation Army
Battles and warsJanuary Events
1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
Transnistria War
War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)
First Karabakh War
First Chechen War
Euromaidan
Russo-Ukrainian War
Identification symbol

The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence (Ukrainian: Українська Національна Асамблея-Українська Народна Самооборона, УНА-УНСО, UNA-UNSO) was a Ukrainian nationalist organisation.[14][15] It was composed by a political wing (the Ukrainian National Assembly – UNA) and a paramilitary wing (Ukrainian People's Self-Defence – UNSO).[3]

According to Andreas Umland and Anton Shekhovtsov, the UNA-UNSO was created in 1991 as a "formation manned by UNA members who had served in the Soviet armed forces ... to confront the State Committee on the State of Emergency".[16] The UNA-UNSO has been described by International-security expert Andrew McGregor as a "influential but fringe movement", which deeply influenced far-right politics in Ukraine due its visibility and militancy, although it still had small numbers.[2] Although the Ukrainian National Assembly (Ukrainian: УНА, UNA) was the organisation's political wing, on 22 May 2014 it merged with Right Sector;[1] the UNSO continues to operate independently.

The UNSO has participated in multiple international conflicts by sending volunteers to support various belligerents. Including the First Nagorno-Karabakh War,[17] Transnistria War,[18] the War in Abkhazia,[19] First Chechen War,[20] the Yugoslav Wars and the Russo-Ukrainian War.

History

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Early years

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The UNA was created on 30 June 1990 in Lviv as the Ukrainian Interparty Assembly (UMA).[3] On 3–4 November 1990, a congress of the Ukrainian National Association (UNS) was held in Kyiv. On 11 January 1991, UNS squads headed by Yuriy Tyma guarded the Seimas Palace during the January Events in Lithuania. On 30 June 1991, about 200 UNS members held a torchlight parade in Lviv commemorating the 1941 declaration of Ukrainian independence.

During the first days of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, a UNS squad led by Vietnam War veteran Valeriy Bobrovych left for Moscow; the squad later laid the foundations for the Argo battalion. On 19 August 1991, during the struggle against the State Committee on the State of Emergency, the UNS created squads of the Ukrainian People's Self-Defense (UNSO) in Kyiv. The squads were formed around a small group of ethnic-Ukrainian Soviet army veterans of the war in Afghanistan. In December 1990 Yuriy Shukhevych, the son of Roman Shukhevych, was elected as the first leader of the UNS.[3] Because of the 8 September 1991 Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the sixth session of the UMA was renamed the Ukrainian National Assembly; it became known as the UNA-UNSO, due to the UNSO's close association with the UNA.[3]

Since its 1991 independence, Ukraine has had separatist movements aiming to reunite portions of Ukraine with Russia and other neighbouring countries. UNA-UNSO stopped People's Deputy Goncharov of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from reestablishing the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic and the Donetsk National Guard in the Donbas. In Kyiv, the Patriotic Forum (Otyechestvyennyi forum) was abolished. In November 1991 the UNSO held a rally, and due to a brawl involving UNSO fighters the government made the first mass arrests of UNSO activists. In Odesa UNSO halted an initiative to create a Novorossiysk Republic, influencing separatist movements in Bukovina and Zakarpattia. On 7 June 1992, an UNSO group from Lviv broke up a Romanian congress in Chernivtsi which advocated the unification of northern Bukovina and Romania. In early 1993, the UNSO had a reported 4,000 members.[3]

Since 1994

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UNSO volunteers in Georgia

The UNA was registered as a political party in December 1994,[3] and in the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election three UNA-UNSO members were elected as deputies to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). In September 1995, its registration was suspended until 1997.[3]

UNSO was registered as a public organization in Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne and Poltava Oblasts only.[3] In practise, however, there was no distinction between the membership of both organizations.[3]

From 1994 to 1997, UNA-UNSO members became prominent in Ukraine through a number of anti-Russian activities. UNA-UNSO deputies destroyed a Russian flag in the Verkhovna Rada, UNA-UNSO fighters joined Chechen rebels in the First Chechen War and activists organised demonstrations against Russian pop singers visiting Ukraine. UNA-UNSO took sides in Ukrainian church affairs and clashed with police during the July 1995 funeral of Patriarch Volodomyr, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. The organisations supported Patriarch Filaret Denysenko, who was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, and participated in violent attempts to seize property for the new church (particularly in Rivne and Volyn Oblasts)[citation needed]. Membership peaked at around 10,000 members, about 90 percent of whom were between 18 and 35 years old. The organisation was depicted in Georgiy Gongadze's 1994 documentary film, Shadows of War.[citation needed]

In 1997, the government of Leonid Kuchma banned the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence. UNA-UNSO members responded with violent street protests, resulting in over 250 arrests. Dmytro Korchynsky, one of those arrested, soon left the organisation.

In 1998, UNA-UNSO's new leaders were Andriy Shkil and Yuriy Shukhevych, the son of Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych. In the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the organisation received 0.39 percent of the vote.[21]

Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian Nationalistic Self Defense members participated in the 2000–01 Ukraine without Kuchma protest campaign. In the 2002 parliamentary elections Andriy Shkil won an electoral district in Lviv Oblast and a seat in the Verkhovna Rada,[22][23] the party itself won 0.04% of the votes.[21] In 2003 Shkil left the party,[24] and he has become an aide to Yulia Tymoshenko.[25][26] During the Orange Revolution UNA-UNSO members supported Viktor Yushchenko against his pro-Russian opponents, providing security for Yushchenko supporters and Orange leaders such as Yulia Tymoshenko in Kyiv's Independence Square.[27]

Six Ukrainians fought on the side of Yugoslavia in the Battle of Koshare. The commander of the volunteers was Andrej Bilecki, and he was also the one who led the volunteers into war.[28]

Large group of demonstrators, waving flags
UNA-UNSO members in Kyiv during the funeral of Mikhail Zhiznevsky, 26 January 2014

In 2005, Yuriy Shukhevych again became the party's leader. In the 2006 parliamentary election, it failed to win parliamentary representation with 0.06 percent of the vote[21] and did not participate in the 2007 election.[21]

In 2008, South Ossetian attorney general Teimuraz Khugayev accused UNA-UNSO of joining a Georgian unit during the August war, but no evidence has been provided.[29] According to an August 2009 Russian Investigative Committee report, 200 UNA-UNSO members and soldiers from the Ukrainian Ground Forces aided Georgia during the fighting. Ukraine denied the accusation. UNA-UNSO deputy head Mykola Karpyuk said that "unfortunately", no organisation members took part in the Georgian conflict.[citation needed]

UNA-UNSO participated in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election,[30] receiving 0.08 percent of the national vote and winning none of the five electoral districts in which they fielded candidates.[31]) and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[32] In March 2014, Russia brought a criminal case against the party and some of its members, including party leader Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda, for "organizing an armed gang" which allegedly fought the Russian 76th Guards Air Assault Division during the first Chechen war.[33] The organisation's Ukrainian National Assembly political wing merged with Right Sector on 22 May 2014.[1]

Leaders

[edit]

International conflicts

[edit]

Transnistria

[edit]
Military medal
The Vakhtang Gorgasal Order, first class

During the Transnistria War, UNA-UNSO members fought with Transnistrian separatists against Moldovan government forces,[37] purportedly in defence of Transnistria's large ethnic Ukrainian minority.[3] Over 50 UNSO members were awarded the Defender of Transnistria Order.

Georgian civil war

[edit]

In 1993, UNA-UNSO sent volunteers to the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict against Abkhaz separatists.[38][39] The UNA-UNSO Argo unit joined the Georgian side against Russian-backed Abkhaz forces, and some volunteers joined the Sukhumi Battalion of the Marine Infantry Forces of Georgia. A CPT Ustym squad prevented an amphibious assault of Russian forces near Sukhumi, sinking a Russian military motorboat. Seven UNSO members died near Sukhumi, and 30 members received the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali medal. The UNA-UNSO units did not lose a battle in the civil war.

  • Sukhumi raid (June 1993)
  • Starushkino village ambush (15 July 1993)
  • Shromi village assault (17 July 1993)
  • Khomi defence (4 October 1993)
  • Samtredia defence (17 October 1993)

Russo-Ukrainian War

[edit]
Emblem of the 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion "UNSO"

UNSO had also fought in the Russo-Ukrainian War as part of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps[40] and the Territorial defence battalions 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion "UNSO",[41][42] 1st Recon Company UNSO and 55th UNSO Battalion.[citation needed] It also fought in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[43]

Ideology and image

[edit]

The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence 1994 party platform envisioned Kyiv as the centre of a new, pan-Slavic, eastern military bloc.[3] International-security expert Andrew McGregor said in 2006 that the UNA-UNSO "might be best characterized as an influential fringe movement" and "its high visibility belies its limited numbers."[2] Its anthem is "Stay, my love, don't cry, honey", a reprise of "Bella ciao".[44]

Elections

[edit]
Parliamentary, since 1994
(year links to election page)
Year Votes % Mandate
1994
148,239
0.5
1
1998
105,977
0.39
0
2002
11,839
0.04
0 (1)
2006
16,397
0.06
0
2007
0
0
0
2012
16,913
0.08
0

UNA-UNSO parliamentarians

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Right Sector registered as official party, Interfax-Ukraine (22 May 2014)
  2. ^ a b c McGregor, Andrew (30 March 2006), Radical Ukrainian Nationalism and the War in Chechnya, The Jamestown Foundation
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The radical right in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989 by Sabrina Ramet, Pennsylvania University Press. 1999 ISBN 0-271-01810-0 (page 290 and continuing from there)
  4. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2005), Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Yale University Press, p. x
  5. ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. (1998), Nihil Obstat: Religion, Politics, and Social Change in East-Central Europe and Russia, Duke University Press, p. 257
  6. ^ a b c "Украинские националисты УНАО-УНСО признали, что воевали на стороне Азербайджана в Карабахе". panorama.am (in Russian). 17 September 2010. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Армянский эксперт: В Первую Карабахскую войну украинские неонацисты служили в армии Азербайджана летчиками и артиллеристами". eadaily.com (in Russian). 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Кроме чеченских боевиков, радикальных исламистов из Афганистана, „Серых волков" и других, отметились в Карабахе и украинские нацисты из УНА-УНСО.
  8. ^ a b c ""В случае войны мы окажем баку посильную помощь"". euraspravda.ru (in Russian). 5 March 2014.
  9. ^ a b c ""В случае войны мы окажем Баку посильную помощь"". Minval.az (in Russian).
  10. ^ ""Украинские националисты собираются в Грузию воевать против России"". 24 April 2008.
  11. ^ "Radical Ukrainian Nationalism and the War in Chechnya". Jamestown.
  12. ^ ""Краще згинути вовком, нiж жити псом"".
  13. ^ "Refworld | Ukraine: Ideology, goals, organization and activities of the Ukrainian Nationalist Assembly – Ukrainian Nationalist Self-Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO); treatment of UNA-UNSO members by the authorities (January 1999 – August 2004)".
  14. ^ Singh, Anita Inder (2001), Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Security in Post-Communist Europe, Greenwood, p. 114
  15. ^ Dymerskaya-Tsigelman, Liudmila; Finberg, Leonid (1999), "Antisemitism of the Ukrainian Radical Nationalists: Ideology and Policy", Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism (14), Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism
  16. ^ Umland, Andreas; Shekhovtsov, Anton (September–October 2013). "Ultraright Party Politics in Post-Soviet Ukraine and the Puzzle of the Electoral Marginalism of Ukrainian Ultranationalists in 1994–2009". Russian Politics and Law. 51 (5): 33–58. doi:10.2753/RUP1061-1940510502. S2CID 144502924.
  17. ^ LLC, Helix Consulting. "Украинские националисты УНАО-УНСО признали, что воевали на стороне Азербайджана в Карабахе". panorama.am. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Украина.Ru | Украинская национальная ассамблея – Украинская национальная самооборона (УНА-УНСО)". 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  19. ^ "Консульство Грузии во Львове откроют "герои" кавказской войны". Росбалт (in Russian). Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Сторонники УНА-УНСО – против вступления Украины в НАТО и воевали в Чечне". ИА REGNUM (in Russian). Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  21. ^ a b c d (in Ukrainian) Українська національна Ассамблея, Database DATA
  22. ^ The Constituency № 121, Central Election Commission of Ukraine (2002 regular election)
  23. ^ Results of voting in single-mandate constituencies, Central Election Commission of Ukraine (2002 regular election)
  24. ^ "A brief course of UNA-UNSO history UNA-UNSO :: Articles". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  25. ^ "Yulia Tymoshenko's orbits / Ukrayinska Pravda". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  26. ^ "The Makeup of the New Verkhovna Rada / Ukrayinska Pravda". Archived from the original on 17 March 2008.
  27. ^ Far-right Group Flexes During Ukraine "Revolution" Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, 1 January 2005
  28. ^ mreža, Balkanska bezbednosna (31 May 2022). "Ukrajinci se na Košarama borili na srpskoj strani, i komandant Azova se prijavio". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  29. ^ Allenova, Olga (25 November 2008). "Foreign Traces in the Strange War". Kommersant. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  30. ^ (in Ukrainian) Відомості щодо реєстрації виборчих списків кандидатів у депутати Information on the registration of electoral lists of candidates, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  31. ^ (in Ukrainian) Candidates, RBC Ukraine
  32. ^ (in Ukrainian) Proportional votes Archived 30 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine & Constituency seats Archived 5 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  33. ^ "Russia launches criminal case against Ukraine's Tiahnybok". Interfax-Ukraine. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  34. ^ Head of the UNA-UNSO party became Valeriy Bobrovych (Головою партії УНА-УНСО став Валерій Бобрович). UNA-UNSO party. 7 November 2016.
  35. ^ LLC, Helix Consulting (17 September 2010). "Украинские националисты УНАО-УНСО признали, что воевали на стороне Азербайджана в Карабахе" [Ukrainian nationalist UNAO-UNSO admitted to fighting on the side of Azerbaijan in Karabakh]. panorama.am (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  36. ^ Ukraine in the Crossfire. SCB Distributors. 5 April 2017. ISBN 9780997896541.
  37. ^ "УНСО". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  38. ^ Democratic Changes and Authoritarian Reactions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (Democratization and Authoritarianism in Post-Communist Societies), Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 0521597323 (page 349)
  39. ^ State Building and Military Power in Russia and the New States of Eurasia (International Politics of Eurasia), M. E. Sharpe, 1995, ISBN 1563243601 (page 173)
  40. ^ "In Poland, Ukrainian Donbas War Veteran Faces Extradition To Russia". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  41. ^ "131-й розвідбат (курінь УНСО): народжений війною". 4 April 2016.
  42. ^ "Volunteer battalions in eastern Ukraine: who are they? | UACRISIS.ORG". Ukraine crisis media center. 16 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  43. ^ Ponomarenko, Illia (21 April 2022). "EXPLAINER: What to expect from the Battle of Donbas, Russia's new offensive". Kyiv Independent. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  44. ^ (in Ukrainian) УНСО, YouTube
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