Reuters /
Konstantin Chernichkin
Source: Russia Today
Former chief of Ukraine’s Security Service has confirmed
allegations that snipers who killed dozens of people during the violent unrest
in Kiev operated from a building controlled by the opposition on Maidan square.
Shots that killed both civilians and police officers were
fired from the Philharmonic Hall building in Ukraine’s capital, former head of
the Security Service of Ukraine Aleksandr Yakimenko told Russia 1 channel. The
building was under full control of the opposition and particularly the
so-called Commandant of Maidan self-defense Andrey Parubiy who after the coup
was appointed as the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of
Ukraine, Yakimenko added.
Furthermore the former security chief believes that
Parubiy has been in contact with US Special Forces that could have coordinated
the assault.
“Shots came from the Philharmonic Hall.
Maidan Commandant Parubiy was responsible for this building. Snipers and people
with automatic weapons were ‘working’ from this building on February 20. They
supported the assault on the Interior Ministry forces on the ground who were
already demoralized and have, in fact, fled,” Yakimenko said in an interview with Russian television.
The police officers were chased by a group of rioters
armed with various weapons and at that point, Yakimenko says snipers fired at
pursuers themselves.
“When the first wave of shootings ended, many
have witnessed 20 people leaving the building,” former chief says, noting that they were well-equipped and were carrying
military style bag for carrying sniper and assault rifles with optical sights.
Not only the law enforcers, but people from the opposition’s Freedom, Right
Sector, Fatherland, and Klitschko’s UDAR party have also seen this, Yakimenko
claims.
The former security head also said that according to the
intelligence those snipers could be foreigners, including mercenaries from
former Yugoslavia as well former Special Forces employees from Ukraine’s
Defense Ministry.
Yakimenko claims that Parubiy was part of a group that
was heavily influenced by the people associated with the US secret services. “These
were the forces that carried out everything that they were told by their
leadership – the United States,” Yakimenko explained, claiming that Maidan
leaders practically lived in the US embassy.
Reuters / Vasily Fedosenko
According to Yakimenko, during the massacre the
opposition leaders contacted him and asked him to deploy special force unit to
scoop out the snipers from buildings in central Kiev, but Parubiy made sure
that won’t happen.
“The Right Sector and Freedom Party have
requested me to use the Alpha group to cleanse these buildings, stripping them
from snipers,” Yakimenko said. According to him
Ukrainian troops were ready to move in and eliminate the shooters.
“I was ready to do it, but in order to go
inside Maidan I had to get the sanction from Parubiy. Otherwise the
‘self-defense’ would attack me in the back. Parubiy did not give such consent,” Yakimenko said noting that the Maidan leader had full
authority over the access to weapons on Maidan, and not a single gun including
a sniper rifle could get in or out of the square.
Aleksandr Yakimenko’s account supports previously voiced
concerns over unknown snipers shooting both protesters and the police indiscriminately
– who were the topic of the recently leaked phone conversation
between EU’s Catherine Ashton and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet.
In a leaked phone conversation that took place February
26 Ashton and Paet discussed rumors that snipers were hired by some of the
opposition leaders.
“There is now stronger and stronger
understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was
somebody from the new coalition,” Paet said during
the conversation. “I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick
that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,” Ashton answered.
Almost 100 people were killed and another 900 injured
during the violent standoff near Maidan Square in Kiev last month that forced
president Yanukovich out of the country and installed a new government.
Ukrainian self-proclaimed authorities maintain that the shooting was authorized
by Yanukovich.
On Wednesday Moscow suggested setting up a probe
to investigate the crimes perpetrated by extremist and armed elements of the
opposition over the past three months. The proposal to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also seeks to examine the legitimacy
of the post-coup Ukrainian government.
Detailed
Analysis of Shooting at Maidan Activists
Video
Source: http://youtu.be/J5qXS8Xc274
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