Dmytro Yarosh

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Dmytro Yarosh
Дмитро Ярош
Yarosh in 2014
People's Deputy of Ukraine
In office
27 November 2014 – 29 July 2019
Preceded byYuriy Samoylenko [uk]
Succeeded byOleksandr Zavitnevych
ConstituencyDnipropetrovsk Oblast, No. 39[1]
Personal details
Born (1971-09-30) 30 September 1971 (age 52)
Dniprodzerzhynsk,
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (2014–2015)
Ukrainian Volunteer Army
(2015–present)
Battles/wars

Dmytro Anatoliiovych Yarosh (

Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.[7] In late 2015, he withdrew from the Right Sector.[8] From 2014 until 2019, Yarosh served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine. In February 2016, he started a new organisation called Governmental Initiative of Yarosh (DIYA).[9]

In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election, Yarosh received 127,772 votes (0.7% of the total).[10] He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election from a single-seat constituency in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast by winning 29.76% of the votes.[11][12] He lost the seat in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.

On 25 July 2015, at the request of the Russian authorities, Interpol placed Yarosh on its international wanted list.[13] Since 2 January 2016 this request no longer appears on Interpol's website.[14]

Biography

Early life

Yarosh was born on 30 September 1971 in Dniprodzerzhynsk (now

Communist Party, although Yarosh claims he was asked to join many times.[17]

In 1988 Yarosh graduated from High School #24 of Dniprodzerzhynsk.

Young Pioneers and later the Countrywide Leninist Communist Youth League organisations, youth-based sub-organisations of the Communist Party.[17]

In the mid-1980s, Yarosh became interested in politics and according to him the Soviet Union "It became clear that the system was false".[17] In 1989, Yarosh, who was 18 at the time, and a group of friends (who were all about twelve years old) were, allegedly, the first people to raise the yellow-blue flag of Ukraine in eastern Ukraine, more precisely in Dneprodzerzhinsk.[17][18] The flag was sewed by his grandmother and her sister with cloth bought by Yarosh.[17]

Starting in February 1989, Yarosh was a member of People's Movement of Ukraine organisation. From October 1989 to November 1991 he was drafted and served two years in the Soviet army as a private.[18]

During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yarosh joined Ukrainian nationalist groups. In 1994, he joined the Tryzub organisation, which he has led since 2005.[19]

Political activities

Since October 1988, Yarosh has been active in Ukrainian politics: in February 1989, he became a member of the

People’s Movement of Ukraine, coinciding with his service in the Soviet Army. In 1994, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yarosh was one of the founders of the Ukrainian nationalist organisation Tryzub. He later became head of Tryzub in 2005. In October 2010, he tried to create a unified Ukrainian nationalist movement.[20]

In 2001, Yarosh graduated from the State University of Education in Drohobych, Ukraine (today the Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University [uk]).[16] On 1 April 2013, Yarosh became an assistant-consultant to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) deputy from the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, they are long-time friends.[20]

2014 revolution

Percentage of votes won by Yarosh during the 2014 presidential election

During the Euromaidan protests in early 2014, Tryzub became the core of the newly-founded Right Sector, a coalition of right-wing nationalists.[3] During these protests Yarosh advocated for a "national revolution" and dismissed the Viktor Yanukovych administration as an "internal occupational regime".[4] In early February, weeks before the ousting of President Yanukovych, Yarosh stated in an interview that there would be no civil war in Ukraine because 80% of the population did not support Yanukovych.[21]

Right before the 21 February ouster of Yanukovych, in the

2014 Ukrainian revolution, Yarosh claims he and the Right Sector leadership was consulted by Yanukovych on the deal Yanukovych had signed with the opposition to end Euromaidan.[6] Yarosh refused to endorse this agreement and refused to disarm Right Sector.[6]

In the aftermath of the collapse of Yanukovych's regime, Yarosh demanded to be appointed Vice Prime Minister for the law enforcement matters, but his demand was rejected; he was offered a post of the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instead,[22][23] but Yarosh rejected this position as being beneath him.[24] There were discussions of appointing Yarosh deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, but these discussions quickly petered out for unknown reasons.[22]

On 20 April 2014, Dmytro Yarosh claims he was ordered by acting President

Oleksandr Turchinov to lead 20 Right Sector members to sabotage an insurgent-controlled television tower in Sloviansk, leading to the first combat fatalities in the Siege of Sloviansk. Yarosh denied his role in these events until two years later.[25]

Yarosh was a candidate in the

military action since the first days of April 2014 he did not campaign.[27]

Yarosh took part in the

constituency with 29.76% of the votes.[11] Yarosh did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).[28] He did join the inter-factional group UKROP.[29]

Military and withdrawal from Right Sector

In July 2014, Yarosh announced the creation of a

Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (DUK), a volunteer battalion formed by members of the Right Sector.[7] On July 17, the first orders were given and the official statute was issued, and is considered the official date of formation of the Corps.[30]

During the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport, Yarosh was wounded on 21 January 2015 by an exploding Grad rocket in the nearby village of Pisky.[31] He was evacuated out of the conflict zone.

In early April 2015, Ukraine's defence ministry announced that MP Dmytro Yarosh was to become an aide to military chief Viktor Muzhenko and that his Right Sector fighting group would be integrated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[32]

Yarosh resigned as Right Sector leader on 11 November 2015.[5] After he was wounded on 21 January 2015 he had delegated tasks to others in the organisation and he stated on 11 November 2015 he "did not want to be a wedding general".[5] Especially since he claimed "my positions were not always the same as the aspirations of some of the leadership".[6] Late December 2015 Yarosh announced he was forming a new political party that would have its founding congress in February 2016.[8] Similarly, Yarosh announced the creation of a new paramilitary volunteer battalion known as the Ukrainian Volunteer Army (UDA). The Volunteer Army would use units of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps — more specifically the 5th and 8th Battalions, as well the Hospitallers Medical Battalion — as a basis for his new formation.[33]

Governmental Initiative of Yarosh

In February 2016 Yarosh started a new organisation called Governmental Initiative of Yarosh (DIYA).[9] The departure of Yarosh resulted in at least 20% of Right Sector members leaving with him.[34] According to Yarosh DIYA will be a public movement like People's Movement of Ukraine was in its early days.[35][36]

Yarosh did not participate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[27] In the election he endorsed the candidacy of Ruslan Koshulynskyi.[27]

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election DIYA joined a united party list with the political parties of Svoboda, Right Sector and National Corps.[37] Yarosh himself was placed 3rd on the party list.[37] But in the election they won not enough votes to clear the 5% election threshold and thus no parliamentary seats.[38] The party did also not win a single-mandate constituency parliamentary seat.[39]

Adviser to Valerii Zaluzhnyi

On November 2, 2021, Yarosh said on social media he had been appointed Adviser to the

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to disclose details of its alleged cooperation with Yarosh citing the confidentiality of the information requested.[41] Prior to this request the (army) post of public advisers had been dissolved and Yarosh had thus been dismissed from his post.[41]

Awards

Personal life

Yarosh met his wife Olha,[20] who Yarosh claims was his first love, in

elementary school.[17] The couple married in 1993[27] and has 3 children: daughters Anastasya and Jarina and son Dmytro.[20] On 11 March 2014 grandson Nazar was born.[20]

Yarosh was baptized in the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, (he claims) because "Then there was no other."[27] In 1994 Yarosh converted to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[27]

Political positions and views

  • Yarosh calls himself a follower of Stepan Bandera.[43]
  • Yarosh proposed to ban the Party of Regions of Ukraine, as well as the Communist Party of Ukraine.[4]
  • He considers Russia as a main adversary of Ukraine, although he also has little patience for Western influence on Ukraine either.[3]
  • The
    anti-Ukrainian front."[44]
  • Yarosh wrote "I wonder how it came to pass that most of the billionaires in Ukraine are Jews?"[44]
  • "For all the years of Ukraine's independence, Russia has pursued a systematic, targeted policy of subjugation toward Ukraine ... So of course we will prepare for a conflict with them, ...If they stick their faces here like they did in Georgia in 2008, they'll get it in the teeth."[3]
  • "Sooner or later, we are doomed to fight a war with [the] Moscow empire."[45]
  • "We're not using oligarchs' money in politics, but when a war is on, we do not object to their funding the army."[46]
  • Regarding the Minsk agreements, he stated in 2019, following Zelensky's victory in the 2019 Ukrainian election, that they should only be considered a means to delay the onset of a new war and give time to prepare the armed forces, arguing that their implementation would mean the death of Ukraine as a state, as well as treason on the part of whoever would do so. Referencing then newly-elected president Zelensky's public support for the implementation of the Minsk Accords, he stated, "Zelenskyy said in his inaugural speech that he was ready to lose ratings, popularity, position.... No, he would lose his life. He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk—if he betrays Ukraine and those people who died in the Revolution and the War."[47]

Public image

Yarosh is a controversial figure. In Russia's state-run media he has been described as a "radical nationalist".[48] Mainstream Western media has generally called him a radical or extreme nationalist. Some mainstream[49] and left-wing sources have denounced him as a "fascist".[50]

Reactions in Russia

On 12 March 2014, an editor of privately owned Lenta.ru website, Galina Timchenko, was fired by the company's owner Alexander Mamut for publishing a link to an interview with Yarosh he gave two days earlier, after Russian media regulatory agency Roskomnadzor formally warned the Lenta.ru website for publishing this link. In this interview Yarosh said: "Sooner or later, we are doomed to fight a war with [the] Moscow empire".[51]

Criminal charges

On 1 March 2014 Right Sector's page on Russian online social networking service

Chechen militant guerrilla leader associated with Al-Qaeda, for support of Ukraine.[52]
On 2 March 2014, Right Sector's spokesman Art Skoropadskyi denied the message was posted and approved by Yarosh. According to the spokesman, this alleged appeal to Umarov appeared on Right Sector's
assassinate leaders of Right sector Dmytro Yarosh and Oleksandr Muzychko.[54]

On 12 March 2014 an infamous Basmanny court [ru] of Moscow has issued an arrest warrant of Yarosh in absentia alleging public calls for terrorism.[55]

In March 2014

UNA-UNSO, for "organising an armed gang" that had allegedly fought against Russian 76th Guards Air Assault Division in the First Chechen War and for "public calls for extremism and public calls for terrorism".[56] Yarosh has been placed on an international wanted list by Interpol at the request of the Russian Federation on 25 July 2015.[13][57] The charge last alleges he "incriminated [himself by making] public appeals to terrorism and extremism." These two actions are a crime according to Russian criminal code (205th and 280th articles, respectively).[58] Yarosh has been placed on an international wanted list by the Russian Federation.[57] This initially made him the only person wanted internationally after the beginning of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in 2014.[59]

Since 2 January 2016 Yarosh's name can not be found on the international wanted list that is visible on Interpol's website.[14]

Notes

References

  1. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  2. ^ Полковник Дмитро Ярош (in Ukrainian). banderivets.org.ua. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d Shuster, Simon (4 February 2014). "Exclusive: Leader of Right Ukrainian Militant Group Talks Revolution With TIME". Time. Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Profile: Ukraine's key protest figures, BBC News (27 January 2014)
  5. ^
    Interfax Ukraine
    (11 November 2015)
  6. ^ a b c d Right Sector chief Yarosh resigns, cedes leadership role of group, Kyiv Post (11 November 2015)
  7. ^ a b Yarosh assembles 'Donbas' special battalion Archived 5 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ a b "UNIAN news. The latest news in Ukraine and worldwide". uatoday.tv. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Ukraine's Political Volatility Extends Beyond Kiev". Stratfor. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  10. ^ a b c "Poroshenko wins presidential election with 54.7% of vote - CEC". Radio Ukraine International. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014.
    (in Russian) Results election of Ukrainian president, Телеграф (29 May 2014)
  11. ^
    Central Election Commission of Ukraine. Archived from the original
    on 29 October 2014.
  12. (27 November 2014)
  13. ^ a b Rachkevych, Mark (25 July 2014). "Interpol issues wanted notice for nationalist leader Yarosh at Russia's behest". Kyiv Post.
  14. ^ a b Melkozerova, Veronika (2 January 2016). "Right Sector's Yarosh gone from the Interpol wanted list". Kyiv Post.
  15. ^ Ua, Gazeta (21 February 2014). Україні необхідна люстрація - Дмитро Ярош. gazeta.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  16. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Short biography of Dmytro Yarosh, Korrespondent.net
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Yarosh: I was an "Oktobryanka", a pioneer, and a Komsomol member". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 14 January 2019.
  18. ^ a b c (in Russian) The love story of Dmitry Yarosh: Wife hides and shows children, Bigmir.net (15 May 2014)
  19. ^ "От Майдана до войны с Россией". RosBalt. 22 January 2014.
  20. ^ a b c d e (in Russian)/(website has automatic Google Translate option) Short bio, LIGA
  21. Ukrayinska Pravda
    (in Ukrainian). 4 February 2014.
  22. ^ a b Nayyem, Mustafa (1 April 2014). "За кулисами Правого сектора". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 21 November 2017. Сам Дмитро Ярош нібито вимагав для себе посади віце-прем'єра з питань силового блоку з одночасним підпорядкуванням йому внутрішніх військ. Вимогу відхилили, запропонувавши йому посаду заступника секретаря РНБОУ. ... Ще три тижні тому у владних коридорах обережно обговорювався також варіант призначення лідера Правого сектору заступником голови СБУ, але згодом з невідомих причин ці обговорення припинились.
  23. ^ Olearchyk, Roman (26 February 2014). "Arseniy Yatseniuk poised to become Ukraine prime minister". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2017. Andriy Parubiy, a lawmaker who served as commander of the protest movement's guards, was chosen to serve as chair of the national security and defence council. Victoria Siumar, a civil society activist, and Dmytro Yarosh, head of Right Sector, a militant protest group, were proposed as his deputies.
  24. ^ Shuster, Simon (1 March 2014). "Many Ukrainians want Russia to invade". Time. Shkiryak, a revolutionary lawmaker involved in the negotiations over Yarosh's role in the government, says the right-wing militant … was offered the role of deputy head of the National Security Council, but rejected it as beneath him.
  25. ^ ДМИТРО ЯРОШ: "ПЕРШИЙ НАСТУПАЛЬНИЙ БІЙ ВІЙНИ ВІДБУВСЯ 20 КВІТНЯ 2014-ГО - ДОБРОВОЛЬЦІ АТАКУВАЛИ БЛОКПОСТ ПІД СЛОВ'ЯНСЬКОМ". Censor.net.ua. 2016-04-22.
  26. ^ "Порошенко лидирует в президентском рейтинге". LB.ua. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g Rudenko, Yevhen; Sarakhman, Eldar (15 January 2019). "Dmytro Yarosh: Putin can die at any moment". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian).
  28. RBK Ukraine
    (in Ukrainian) Yarosh's profile, Verkhovna Rada
    official website
  29. ^ Justice Ministry registered the party Kolomoisky, Korrespondent.net (18 June 2015)
  30. ^ "Загальні положення про Добровольчий Український Корпус "Правий сектор" | Офіційний сайт НВР "Правий сектор". 12 January 2018. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  31. ^ "Right Sector's leader Yarosh wounded near Donetsk". Kyiv Post. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  32. ^ Poroshenko endorses referendum on federalisation of Ukraine, theguardian.com, 6 April 2015
  33. ^ ""Червень" (Андрій Гергерт): "Ми вільні. Бачимо ворога – вбиваємо" - портал новин LB.ua". 8 December 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  34. ^ "Yarosh launches a new movement, leaves Right Sector - Feb. 22, 2016". 22 February 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  35. ^ "Екс-лідер "Правого сектору" презентував новий рух "ДІЯ"". Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  36. ^ "Ярош назвав деструктивними структури, що намагалися створити Майдан-3". Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  37. ^ a b "Ярош, Тягнибок та Білецький таки сформували єдиний список на вибори". 9 June 2019.
  38. ^ CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
  39. Ukrayinska Pravda
    (21 July 2019)
  40. ^ "Ex-leader of Right Sector Yarosh appointed adviser to Armed Forces' Commander-in-Chief". 112 Ukraine. 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  41. ^
    Ukrayinska Pravda
    (13 December 2021)
  42. ^ Decree of the President of Ukraine from 21 листопада 2016 year № 517/2016 «Про відзначення державними нагородами України» (in Ukrainian)
  43. ^ "Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector". BBC News. 28 April 2014.
  44. ^
    Spiegel Online
    . 16 April 2014.
  45. ^ "Дмитро Ярош: "Рано или поздно, но мы обречены воевать с Московской империей" (25.08.08 22:24) « Форум Украины | Цензор.НЕТ". Censor.net.ua. 25 August 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  46. ^ <%= item.timeFlag %>. "ITAR-TASS: World - Ukrainian extremists move headquarters from Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk". En.itar-tass.com. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  47. ^ Rahutska, Liliia (27 May 2019). "Ярош: якщо Зеленський зрадить Україну — втратить не посаду, а життя" [Yarosh: if Zelensky betrays Ukraine, he will not only lose his position, but his life]. Obozrevatel (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 13 March 2023. Мінський формат — і я про це говорю постійно — це можливість затягувати час, озброювати ЗСУ, переходити на найкращі світові стандарти в системі національної безпеки і оборони. Це можливість для маневру. Але не більше. Реалізація "Мінських домовленостей" — це загибель нашої держави. (...) Порошенко грав на "Мінську" — і гарно грав. Факт. Він тягнув час. (...) Зеленський у своїй інавгураційній промові говорив, що готовий втратити рейтинги, популярність, посаду… Ні, він втратить життя. Висітиме на якомусь дереві на Хрещатику — якщо зрадить Україну і отих людей, які на Революції та війні загинули.
  48. ITAR-TASS
    . 25 July 2014.
  49. ^ Mezzofiore, Gianluca (7 March 2014). "Ukraine's Neo-Fascist Right Sector Leader Dmytro Yarosh to Run for President". International Business Times.
  50. ^ Schwarz, Peter (25 April 2014). "German news site Spiegel Online interviews Ukrainian fascist Yarosh". World Socialist Web Site.
  51. ^ ""Ленту.ру" обязали убрать гиперссылку на интервью Яроша - BBC Russian - Лента новостей". Bbc.co.uk. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  52. ^ "FAKE: Right Sector (Pravyu Sector) appeal to Doku Umarov". StopFake.org. 3 March 2014.
  53. ^ Свобода, Радіо (1 March 2014). ""Правий сектор" не звертався до чеченців за допомогою – речник". Радіо Свобода. Radiosvoboda.org. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  54. ^ "Российский депутат призвал спецслужбы "ликвидировать" Яроша и Белого". Lenta.ru. 11 March 2014.
  55. ^ "Russian court issues arrest warrant for Ukraine far-right head for terrorism". Reuters. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  56. ^ 2014-03-14T15:43+02:00 15:43 14.03.2014 (14 March 2014). "Russia launches criminal case against Ukraine's Tiahnybok". En.interfax.com.ua. Retrieved 5 June 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  57. ^ a b "Вести.Ru: Ярош объявлен в международный розыск". Vesti.ru. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  58. ^ "Россия начала уголовное преследование руководителя "Правого сектора" » Информационное агентство "365 дней"". 365news.biz. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  59. ^ Wanted by Ukraine, Interpol website accessed 11 November 2015)

External links