Ukraine Nationalist Antics Seen As Gift To Russia
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) When state-owned Ukrainian TV broadcast celebrations of Russia's annexation of Crimea on Moscow's Red Square, a group of nationalist politicians cried betrayal. They burst into the office of the channel's executive, accused him of being a Russian stooge, punched him and forced him to sign a resignation letter.
The assault, which prompted condemnation in the West, presents an important test for Ukraine's new pro-Western government.
First, it's eager to show a modern, democratic face to the world as it enters a landmark political association pact with the European Union. Perhaps more gravely, the nationalist violence plays directly into the hands of Russia's propaganda spinners: State-controlled media eagerly used the incident to portray Kiev's leadership as a hive of radical nationalists who terrorize Russian speakers, justifying the Kremlin's moves to protect them in Ukraine.
Tensions are high in Ukraine as the government debates whether to pull its troops from the Crimean peninsula, where Russian forces are seizing Ukrainian ships and evicting soldiers from military bases. Crimeans are eagerly lining up to apply for Russian passports, while Russian tanks and troops amass near the border with eastern Ukraine.
For Ihor Miroshnichenko, a lawmaker with the nationalist Svoboda party, those scenes of Russian domination were all too much.
And the broadcast of Russian celebrations seemed to add insult to injury.
To vent his rage, he led a group of Svoboda colleagues in storming the office of the First National channel's chief, Oleksandr Panteleymonov, used an insulting term used to describe Russians and punched him repeatedly, while an aide recorded the scene on video.
"Today Ukraine is in a state of war and in a state of partial occupation by Russia. And when war is going on, giving the air to the enemy I believe it is state treason," Miroshenichenko, a former journalist who sits on the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, told the Hromadske online television channel.
"I cannot imagine that Poland which was occupied by Hitler would give him airtime on the radio so that Fuhrer could explain his position."
Miroshnichenko admitted that he may have overreacted although he refused to acknowledge that he actually beat Panteleymonov.
Originally posted here: