Ukraine Militias Warn They’ll Launch Coup in Six Months

There Won't Be a Third Maidan, Leaders Warn

by Jason Ditz, 

The February Maidan revolution in Ukraine saw a pro-Russian government replaced by a pro-EU one, with the protests overwhelmingly led by far-right ultranationalist factions. Since then, those factions have served as volunteer paramilitaries for the Ukrainian government in fights against the ethnic Russian east.

Their far-right agenda hasn’t gone anywhere, however, and their leaders are warning in the wake of the most recent election that they’re not going to wait long for the new government to start implementing their demands.

“We’re going to give them half a year to show the country has somehow changed,” insisted Yuriy Bereza, the leader of the Dnipro-1 militia. Another leader of that militia, Vitaly Feshchenko, warned ominously that “there won’t be a third Maidan if that happens. There’ll be a military takeover.”

Given the Ukrainian military’s serious struggles with the comparatively small eastern rebellion, and their terrible morale problems, it’s hard to envision them putting up a serious fight if the Euromaidan revolutionaries come out in force with an eye on installing a more fascist government.

If they follow through on the threat, it could be another major game-changer for Ukraine, which has been a ship adrift in recent years, torn between being a de facto vassal of Russia or the West. The ultranationalists would clearly be hostile to Russia first and foremost, but would probably not be much friendlier to the EU in the long run.

http://news.antiwar.com/2014/10/31/ukraine-militias-warn-theyll-launch-coup-in-six-months/