In Odessa, Home-Grown Combatants Keep Pro-Russia Forces in Check
By ANDREW E. KRAMER, NYT
MAY 8, 2014
ODESSA, Ukraine — In a basement headquarters behind a home electronics store, Ruslan Forostyak pored over a map of the city’s defenses against pro-Russian militants: roadblocks, zones of responsibility, strategic sites to defend.
But Mr. Forostyak is no police chief or general. He is a marine radio salesman, only recently turned leader of Odessa’s loose organization of pro-Ukrainian street fighters who see their role as defending their city against pro-Russian activists.
While a call by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, to delay a referendum on sovereignty may have lowered passions for the moment, neither Mr. Forostyak nor his group, the Council for Civil Security, is taking any chances. Their rivals have a permit to stage a march Friday for Victory Day, the annual celebration of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, and the council’s 3,000 members have vowed to head off any trouble through their 12 roadblocks, telephone hotline and militant wing armed with legally registered hunting rifles.
(More here.)
ODESSA, Ukraine — In a basement headquarters behind a home electronics store, Ruslan Forostyak pored over a map of the city’s defenses against pro-Russian militants: roadblocks, zones of responsibility, strategic sites to defend.
But Mr. Forostyak is no police chief or general. He is a marine radio salesman, only recently turned leader of Odessa’s loose organization of pro-Ukrainian street fighters who see their role as defending their city against pro-Russian activists.
While a call by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, to delay a referendum on sovereignty may have lowered passions for the moment, neither Mr. Forostyak nor his group, the Council for Civil Security, is taking any chances. Their rivals have a permit to stage a march Friday for Victory Day, the annual celebration of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, and the council’s 3,000 members have vowed to head off any trouble through their 12 roadblocks, telephone hotline and militant wing armed with legally registered hunting rifles.
(More here.)
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