How to Join a Ukrainian Militia

April 25, 2016 Topic: Society Region: Eurasia Tags: UkraineWar In UkraineMilitiasSecurityNeo-Nazis

How to Join a Ukrainian Militia

Meet the motley thugs of Right Sector.

In Kiev the fragile mythology of the 2014 revolution has unraveled. Decades of mass corruption are no closer to being addressed by a Poroshenko regime that now appears more like an exchanging of one elite for another, rather than the product of popular upheaval. Among the roving bands in the Maidan, the narrative of this latest national betrayal still hovers below thousands of individual grievances that have yet to coalesce into something greater. But the ire that has built up in the last two years—first directed against Yanukovych, then Putin—now tilts toward the latest imposter, Poroshenko. Tinder collects in the capital. Among the volunteers are shadow formations that have mobilized before. Enough heavy weaponry now sits in private hands in Kiev to ensure that the next Maidan protest—whenever it comes—will be equipped with more than stones and Molotov cocktails.

Alexander Clapp is a journalist who lives in Kiev. His work has appeared in the Balkanist and the Times Literary Supplement.

Image: Alexander Clapp