Dangerous "volunteers": the founder of "Azov" threatened Zelensky to send thousands of radicals to the Donbass

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky set an ultimatum. The founder of the Azov volunteer regiment, the chairman of the nationalist National Corps party, Andrei Biletsky, threatened that thousands of Ukrainian radicals would arrive in the village if the head of state tried to oust the fighting in the south-east of the country and disengage forces, oh what Kiev agreed with representatives of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass on October 1 at the talks in Minsk.

“If you decide to fulfill your threats - to throw veterans out of here - then instead of a few tens of people there will be a thousand there next week, and if you don't leave a thousand, there will be ten thousand,” Biletsky said.

According to him, Zelensky boorishly talked with "veterans" who allegedly "own blood" earned the right to their opinion. He stressed that the sixth president of Ukraine is going to “surrender a huge section of the front,” which allegedly will try to “take himself” to Russia by fraud.

“I understand that you trust the Russians much more than the veterans of the Ukrainian part or the army. But still you need to have a conscience, you’re the president of Ukraine, in the end, ”explained the leader of the National Corps.

He added that no matter how the power “bullied”, Ukrainian nationalists will not abandon their positions and “will not allow surrender.”

Along with this, Oleg Sentsov expressed his negative attitude towards Vladimir Zelensky, who returned home thanks to the efforts of the current government of Ukraine. A man convicted of terrorism in Russia was included in the list of detainees who were exchanged on September 7 according to the “35 for 35” formula.

“I watched yesterday the sensational video of the standup from the Janeloch series. The result: shame for the president and pride in the volunteer. I don’t write about the military, because I don’t feel moral right to it, since I was not in the war. I just want to thank them for the fact that we still have our own country, ”he wrote on Facebook.

On the eve of the Ukrainian media there were videos from the village of Zolotoye, in which Vladimir Zelensky talks in a raised voice with the nationalist about the process of the separation of forces in certain sections of the contact line.

• Fighters of the battalion "Azov"
• Reuters
• © Gleb Garanich

“Do you want to formalize a relationship with me?” No need for surrender. So hand over your weapons ... You are turning arrows on me. You can’t give me any ultimatum at all ... I’m the president of this country, I’m 42 years old, I’m not some kind of sucker, I came to you and said: “Take away your weapons”. You don’t transfer me to shares (protest against Steinmeier’s formula. - RT ). I wanted to see understanding in my eyes, and I saw a guy who decided that some burdock was standing in front of him, ”Zelensky said.

Later, on his Facebook, the president of Ukraine specified that he was talking with representatives of a “group of armed people” living in a private house in the village of Zolotoye. At the same time, the press service of the headquarters of the operation of the combined forces said that the people captured in the video with Zelensky “are not representatives of any law enforcement agencies or the Armed Forces” and are illegally in the territory of the military operation.

At the same time, the “volunteers” themselves, who call themselves participants in the “Last checkpoint” action, said on October 27 that the head of state had allegedly already ordered to remove them from their positions.

“We have information that, according to his (Vladimir Zelensky. - RT ) instructions of the volunteers and participants of the Last Post checkpoint, people who liberated Mariupol, Maryinka, Shirokino and other Ukrainian settlements will be knocked out of Zolotoy. We know that we are on our land, that we won’t go anywhere, and let them do as they know, ”the Ukrainian News portal quotes the message.

“The confrontation between Kiev and Ukrainian nationalists can be very serious”

According to political analyst Yuriy Svetov, Ukrainian nationalists may well bring their threats to life, and in this case, Vladimir Zelensky will face a serious test.

“The situation will develop in this way: either only armed people who obey the lawfully elected government will be in these territories, or the self-proclaimed“ defenders of the fatherland ”will dictate the agenda. Given that the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is actually behind these battalions, the confrontation can be very serious. Everything will depend on whether the army will support Zelensky, whether the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will support him or not. But, perhaps, everything will come to the conclusion that the Ukrainian army will have to deal with the disarmament of these “volunteer” battalions, ”the source said.

The situation is really very difficult, said Yuri Post, professor at the Department of Comparative Political Science of the RUDN University. According to him, if Vladimir Zelensky took decisive action to implement the Minsk agreements, he would meet resistance within the country.

“The fact is that Ukraine has a weak statehood, large destructive moments are visible - loss of control over law enforcement agencies, the presence of several decision centers. An atmosphere of hatred towards the population of Donbass has been created. The ideology prevails in Ukraine that these people are enemies with whom negotiations are unacceptable. Nationalist, radical battalions arose, the entire operation that Poroshenko carried out for five years was called "anti-terrorist." For them, Zelensky, who wants to implement the Minsk agreements, is a traitor, ”the expert explained.

According to him, radicalized elements can carry out armed actions, therefore, "Zelensky will not be envied," and the solution to the Donbass problem "hangs in the air."

“It's not very clear who to put pressure on. On Avakov, who oversees these units? Then it was not necessary to leave him at all as minister - this is actually dual power. It can be hypothetically assumed that Zelensky will give an order to the security forces to block the border with the Donbass, to drive out the battalions from there and not allow these ten thousand. The Ukrainian authorities have driven themselves into a dead end by this radical rejection of those who disagree with them. How to reconcile, if so far the ideological scheme, apart from hatred of Lugansk and Donetsk, offers nothing, ”Svetov stated in an interview with RT.

Earlier, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov spoke out in support of the Azov volunteer battalion, which was created in 2014 to participate in hostilities in the Donbass and is part of the official structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The head of the Ukrainian department thus reacted to the intentions of the US Congress to recognize the unit as a terrorist organization. A corresponding request to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was made by 40 members of the House of Representatives.