UNA-UNSO
Encyclopedia
The UNA-UNSO , is the most prominent (with 8,000 members) nationalist political organization in Ukraine
.
under the name of Ukrainian Inter-party Assembly (UMA). It was led by a maverick politician and nationalist writer Dmytro Korchynskyy
. On August 19, 1991 in the fight against the State Committee of Extraordinary Situations (GKChP) UMA creates UNSD, a Ukrainian self-defense organization, around a small group of ethnically Ukrainian Soviet army veterans who fought in Afghanistan. On September 8, 1991 UMA was officially renamed as the Ukrainian National Assembly, while among people became known as UNA-UNSO due to the UNSO close association with UNA.
Between 1993 and 1994 Ukrainian National Assembly organized groups throughout Ukraine, even in traditionally less nationalist Russian-speaking Donbas region. Ukrainian government started to fear the spread of extreme ideology of UNA-UNSO. Party headquarters as well as homes of most prominent activists were routinely raided by the police. At the same time UNA-UNSO was involved in shady dealings with Ukrainian organized crime
. Several high-ranking UNA-UNSO members were victims of organized crime related murders.
Despite this during Ukrainian parliamentary election in 1994
three UNA-UNSO members were elected as deputies of Verkhovna Rada
(Ukrainian parliament).
Between 1994 and 1997 UNA-UNSO members gained prominence in Ukraine through a number of anti-Russian actions. UNA-UNSO deputies destroyed a Russian flag in Ukrainian parliament, UNA-UNSO fighters joined the Chechen rebels in First Chechen War
and fought against the Russian army, its activists organized street protests against Russian pop-stars visiting Ukraine. UNA-UNSO took sides in Ukrainian church affairs and in July 1995 clashed with police during the funeral of Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)
, head of Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
. UNA-UNSO supported Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)
excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church
, and participated in violent attempts to capture church property for the new church, notably in Rivne
and Volyn
oblasts. Membership of the organization peaked at around 10 000 members, who were mostly young Ukrainians. About 90 % of its members were between 18 and 35 years old. Ideology of the organization combine radical Ukrainian nationalism
, anti-Semitism
, support for an authoritarian form of government and "national-oriented" economy.
In 1997 government of Leonid Kuchma
banned the Ukrainian National Assembly — Ukrainian National Self Defence. Members of UNA-UNSO responded with a number of violent street protests, resulted in over 250 arrests. Dmytro Korchynskyy himself was arrested and soon after left the ranks of UNA-UNSO.
In 1998 UNA-UNSO re-appeared as a more moderate strictly nationalist rather than a neo-Nazi organization. New leaders of the organizations became Andriy Shkil
and Yuriy Shukhevych, son of prominent Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych
.
UNA-UNSO participated in Ukrainian parliamentary election of 1998
but managed to get only 0.39 % of the votes.
In 2000 and 2001 members of Ukrainian National Assembly — Ukrainian Nationalistic Self Defense actively participated in Ukraine without Kuchma
mass protest campaign.
During the 2002 parliamentary elections
Andriy Shkil won a single-mandate constituency in the Lviv Oblast
(province) and thus a seat in the Verkhovna Rada, the party itself won 0,04% of the votes. In 2003 Shkil left the party, he has become a close aide to influential politician Yuliya Tymoshenko.
During Orange Revolution
UNA-UNSO members supported Viktor Yushchenko
against his pro-Russian opponents. UNA-UNSO members provided security for the supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, and prominent leaders of the Orange camp such as Yulia Tymoshenko
on Independence Square
in Kiev.
In 2005 Yuriy Shukhevych became the leader of the party again. In the 2006 parliamentary elections
the party failed to win parliamentary representation with 0,06% of the votes. The party did not participate in the 2007 elections
.
In 2008 the South Ossetia
n Prosecutor General Teimuraz Khugayev accused UNA-UNSO to have participated with a unit on the Georgian side during the August war
. But so far no evidence of this has been provided. According to a Russian Investigative Committee report of August 2009 200 members of the Ukrainian UNA-UNSO and full-time servicemen of the Ukrainian army aided Georgian forces during the fighting, Ukraine denied the accusation. UNA-UNSO deputy head Nikolay Karpyuk said that “unfortunately” no members of the organization took part in the fighting in Georgia
.
members of UNA-UNSO fought on the side of Transnistria
n separatists against Moldova
n forces. This was justified as a defense of large ethnic Ukrainian minority in Transnistria. Over 50 members of UNSO were awarded order "Defender of Transnistria".
In spring of 1992 700 members of UNSO participated in extinguishing a pro-Russian separatist movement in Crimea
. In autumn of 1992 a similar movement was extinguished in Zakarpattia
. Concurrently with that UNSO sponsored a return of the Ukrainian veterans from across the Soviet Union
.
In 1993 UNA-UNSO sent volunteers to participate in Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
in fight against the Abkhasian separatists. UNA-UNSO fighters formed a unit called "Argo" and joined Georgian
side against Russian-backed Abkhaz forces. Seven members of UNSO perished during the conflict near Sukhumi
, 30 members were awarded the order of "Vakhtang Gorgasali".
The party maintains a close relationship with the National Democratic Party of Germany
which is considered to be a promoter of a neo-Nazi ideology by some. UNA-UNSO has been widely considered to have employed neo-Fascist and neo-Nazi methods and ideologies.
International security expert Andrew Mcgregor has stated (in 2006) that the UNA-UNSO "might be best characterized as an influential fringe movement", and that "its high visibility belies its limited numbers".
UNA-UNSO has an anthem, which is called 'Stay, my love, don't cry, honey'. It is a remake of the Bella Ciao
song.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
History
Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) was created on June 30, 1990 in LvivLviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
under the name of Ukrainian Inter-party Assembly (UMA). It was led by a maverick politician and nationalist writer Dmytro Korchynskyy
Dmytro Korchynskyy
Dmytro Oleksandrovych Korchynsky is a famous Ukrainian public figure, poet and publicist. Leader of BRATSTVO , religious, public and political organization of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, which is working on religious freedom protection, defending of Christians from authorities' violation and...
. On August 19, 1991 in the fight against the State Committee of Extraordinary Situations (GKChP) UMA creates UNSD, a Ukrainian self-defense organization, around a small group of ethnically Ukrainian Soviet army veterans who fought in Afghanistan. On September 8, 1991 UMA was officially renamed as the Ukrainian National Assembly, while among people became known as UNA-UNSO due to the UNSO close association with UNA.
Between 1993 and 1994 Ukrainian National Assembly organized groups throughout Ukraine, even in traditionally less nationalist Russian-speaking Donbas region. Ukrainian government started to fear the spread of extreme ideology of UNA-UNSO. Party headquarters as well as homes of most prominent activists were routinely raided by the police. At the same time UNA-UNSO was involved in shady dealings with Ukrainian organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
. Several high-ranking UNA-UNSO members were victims of organized crime related murders.
Despite this during Ukrainian parliamentary election in 1994
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1994
The first parliamentary election in independent Ukraine took place in 1994. The elections were conducted for the second convocation of the Parliament regarding the previous one as temporary and transitional....
three UNA-UNSO members were elected as deputies of Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
(Ukrainian parliament).
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
and fought against the Russian army, its activists organized street protests against Russian pop-stars visiting Ukraine. UNA-UNSO took sides in Ukrainian church affairs and in July 1995 clashed with police during the funeral of Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)
Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)
Patriarch Volodymyr was the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy....
, head of Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate is one of the three major Orthodox churches in Ukraine, alongside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church , and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church...
. UNA-UNSO supported Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)
Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)
Patriarch Filaret is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate , former Metropolitan bishop of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret (secular name in Ukrainian Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko, in Russian Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko, officially His Holiness, the Patriarch of...
excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, and participated in violent attempts to capture church property for the new church, notably in Rivne
Rivne Oblast
Rivne Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The area of the region is 20,100 km²; its population is 1.2 million...
and Volyn
Volyn Oblast
Volyn Oblast is an oblast in north-western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Lutsk. Kovel is the westernmost town and the last station in Ukraine of the rail line running from Kiev to Warsaw.-History:...
oblasts. Membership of the organization peaked at around 10 000 members, who were mostly young Ukrainians. About 90 % of its members were between 18 and 35 years old. Ideology of the organization combine radical Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism.Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedents of specifically...
, anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, support for an authoritarian form of government and "national-oriented" economy.
In 1997 government of Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
banned the Ukrainian National Assembly — Ukrainian National Self Defence. Members of UNA-UNSO responded with a number of violent street protests, resulted in over 250 arrests. Dmytro Korchynskyy himself was arrested and soon after left the ranks of UNA-UNSO.
In 1998 UNA-UNSO re-appeared as a more moderate strictly nationalist rather than a neo-Nazi organization. New leaders of the organizations became Andriy Shkil
Andriy Shkil
-Professional career:Shkil graduated in 1988 from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University.In 1989 Shkil became member of the editorial board of the newspaper Ukrayina Moloda and he was elected deputy chief of the Independent Ukrainian Youth Union. From then...
and Yuriy Shukhevych, son of prominent Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych
Roman Shukhevych
Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was a Ukrainian politician and military leader, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.-Childhood:Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was born in the city of Krakovets, Jaworow powiat, in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which is located today between Lviv and...
.
UNA-UNSO participated in Ukrainian parliamentary election of 1998
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998
The second Ukrainian parliamentary election after the collapse of the Soviet Union took place on 29 March 1998. In comparison to the first parliamentary election, this time half of 450 parliament seats were filled by single-seat majority winners in 225 electoral regions , and the other half were...
but managed to get only 0.39 % of the votes.
In 2000 and 2001 members of Ukrainian National Assembly — Ukrainian Nationalistic Self Defense actively participated in Ukraine without Kuchma
Ukraine without Kuchma
Ukraine without Kuchma! or UbK was a mass protest campaign preceding the Orange Revolution that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001. Unlike the Orange Revolution the UbK was effectively extinguished by the government enforcement units followed by numerous arrests of the opposition and the...
mass protest campaign.
During the 2002 parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...
Andriy Shkil won a single-mandate constituency in the Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv.-History:The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 4, 1939...
(province) and thus a seat in the Verkhovna Rada, the party itself won 0,04% of the votes. In 2003 Shkil left the party, he has become a close aide to influential politician Yuliya Tymoshenko.
During Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
UNA-UNSO members supported Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
against his pro-Russian opponents. UNA-UNSO members provided security for the supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, and prominent leaders of the Orange camp such as Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
on Independence Square
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street...
in Kiev.
In 2005 Yuriy Shukhevych became the leader of the party again. In the 2006 parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
the party failed to win parliamentary representation with 0,06% of the votes. The party did not participate in the 2007 elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...
.
In 2008 the South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
n Prosecutor General Teimuraz Khugayev accused UNA-UNSO to have participated with a unit on the Georgian side during the August war
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
. But so far no evidence of this has been provided. According to a Russian Investigative Committee report of August 2009 200 members of the Ukrainian UNA-UNSO and full-time servicemen of the Ukrainian army aided Georgian forces during the fighting, Ukraine denied the accusation. UNA-UNSO deputy head Nikolay Karpyuk said that “unfortunately” no members of the organization took part in the fighting in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
.
International Conflicts
In a War of TransnistriaWar of Transnistria
The War of Transnistria was a limited conflict that broke out in November 1990 at Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and Cossack units, and supported by elements of the Russian 14th army, and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan...
members of UNA-UNSO fought on the side of Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
n separatists against Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
n forces. This was justified as a defense of large ethnic Ukrainian minority in Transnistria. Over 50 members of UNSO were awarded order "Defender of Transnistria".
In spring of 1992 700 members of UNSO participated in extinguishing a pro-Russian separatist movement in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. In autumn of 1992 a similar movement was extinguished in Zakarpattia
Zakarpattia Oblast
The Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative oblast located in southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod...
. Concurrently with that UNSO sponsored a return of the Ukrainian veterans from across the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
In 1993 UNA-UNSO sent volunteers to participate in Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
The Georgian–Abkhazian conflict refers to the ethnic conflict between Georgians and Abkhazians in Abkhazia, which is presently a de facto independent partially recognized republic...
in fight against the Abkhasian separatists. UNA-UNSO fighters formed a unit called "Argo" and joined Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
side against Russian-backed Abkhaz forces. Seven members of UNSO perished during the conflict near Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
, 30 members were awarded the order of "Vakhtang Gorgasali".
Ideology and image
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
which is considered to be a promoter of a neo-Nazi ideology by some. UNA-UNSO has been widely considered to have employed neo-Fascist and neo-Nazi methods and ideologies.
International security expert Andrew Mcgregor has stated (in 2006) that the UNA-UNSO "might be best characterized as an influential fringe movement", and that "its high visibility belies its limited numbers".
UNA-UNSO has an anthem, which is called 'Stay, my love, don't cry, honey'. It is a remake of the Bella Ciao
Bella ciao
"Bella ciao" is an Italian partisan song of World War II.-History:The song Bella Ciao was sung by the left-wing anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy, a movement composed of anarchists, communists, socialists and also by militant anti-fascist partisans...
song.
External links
- UNA-UNSO Official party web page
- The rise and fall of a radical movement - Kyiv PostKyiv PostThe Kyiv Post is Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper.-History:The Kyiv Post was founded in September 1995 by an American, Jed Sunden. The paper covers politics, business and entertainment. The staff is a team of Western and Ukrainian journalists. Historically, the editorial policy has...
(November 8, 2001)