Social-National Assembly

The Social-National Assembly (SNA) was an assemblage of the ultra-nationalist radical organizations and groups founded in 2008 that share the social-national ideology and agree upon building a social-national state in Ukraine. It is located on the far right of the Ukrainian politics and built around the "Patriot of Ukraine". In late November 2013, both the S.N.A. and the "Patriot of Ukraine" entered in an association with several other Ukrainian far-right groups which led to the formation of the Right Sector.[1]As of 2014, the S.N.A. was also reported to be close to Svoboda, and Yuriy Zbitnyev, the leader of the nationalist political party "Nova Syla" (New Force).[2][3] As of 2014, the S.N.A.'s activities were largely Kyiv-based.[1]

Social-National Assembly
Соціал-Національна Асамблея
AbbreviationSNA
Founded2008
Dissolved2015
HeadquartersKyiv
Paramilitary wingsPatriot of Ukraine
Azov Battalion
IdeologyUkrainian nationalism
Ultranationalism
Neo-Nazism
Political positionFar-right
Party flag

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2000s

The S.N.A. was founded in 2008 and maintained relations with the wider social-nationalist movement in Ukraine.[4] Co-founder of the organization was Andriy Biletsky. In the late 2000s, Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko and the Our Ukraine bloc bolstered the S.N.A. and other far-right groups by supporting an explicitly nationalist view of Ukrainian history.[5] Following the 2009 death of Maksym Chaika, an S.N.A member who was killed in a fight with antifascists in Odesa, Yushchenko supported the far-right interpretation of Chaika's death, describing him and others as heroes and victims driven to violence for a just cause.[5]

In 2010, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union reported the S.N.A and "Patriot of Ukraine" attacks Vietnamese and other foreign market stalls in Vasylkiv. Most attacks were carried out by youth and targeted Vietnamese, Uzbeks and Gypsies.[6] According to the S.N.A website, they drove foreigners from the market within two weeks and replaced them with Ukrainians. The S.N.A states that some of their victims were hospitalized.[7] Later that year, Ukrainian authorities shut down an S.N.A.-linked music festival near Kyiv that promoted neo-Nazism and chauvinism among Ukrainian youth. The music glorified the skinhead movement, Nazi aesthetics and the harassment of minorities.[6]

In August 2011, the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights warned about the growth of extremist organizations including the S.N.A and "Patriot of Ukraine", noting repeated attacks against foreigners and visible minorities.[8] The institute also noted the government's inability or unwillingness to deal with extreme-right movements in Ukraine.[8]

In August 2011 Ukrainian police announced that they thwarted a bomb attack planned for the commemoration of Ukrainian Independence. The "Patriot of Ukraine", a part of the S.N.A, declared that some of their members had been detained by police but maintained no connection with any terrorist plan.[9][10] Spokespersons for the S.N.A and "Patriot of Ukraine" insisted that criminal action against them was a pretext for SBU repression against their organizations.[9]

Involvement in Maidan
See also: Euromaidan

In 2013, the S.N.A, "Patriot of Ukraine" and Autonomous Resistance all increased in popularity, contributing to the growth of Svoboda as well.[3] The Social National Assembly helped to create an umbrella radical organization - the Right Sector (Pravy Sector). This was also joined by openly radical anti-semitic groups including White Hammer and C14, then the neo-Nazi youth wing of Svoboda.[1]

During the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the militants from the S.N.A and the "Patriot of Ukraine" were on the front lines of the street riots in Kyiv. According to Igor Krivoruchko, the leader of the Kyiv's S.N.A. branch, its members started clashes with the police near the Presidential Administration Building (Kyiv) and also initiated the Hrushevskoho Street riots. They seized and burned on 18 February 2014 the central office of the ruling party - the Party of Regions - in Kyiv. A bystander, 57-year-old IT engineer who tried to stop the attackers from entering the server room, was beaten to death.[11][12]

Oleh Odnoroshenko, the S.N.A and "Patriot of Ukraine" ideologue and also one of the "Right Sector" leaders, stated in February 2014 that the "Right Sector" would be hesitant to enter into the government following the departure of Viktor Yanukovych. Odnoroshenko thought that the politicians would try to use the Right Sector credibility and popularity while pursuing their own agendas.[13]

At the end of April 2014, S.N.A members marched with burning torches to the Independence Square and came into conflict with the Self-defense of the Maidan units. During the fight, the S.N.A. and Self-defense of the Maidan activists used rubber bullet guns and tear gas, and ambulances later arrived to treat wounded.[14]

Oleh Odnoroshenko volunteered to the press that the S.N.A members organized the attack on the Russian embassy in Kyiv on 14 June 2014.[15]

Azov Battalion

In March 2014 the Social-National Assembly created a volunteer group, Azov Battalion. In April, members were wounded in combat against separatists in eastern Ukraine. During the first week of May, Kyiv granted it official status and began delivering weapons.[16] On 6 May, the Azov Battalion captured Donetsk People's Republic defense minister Igor Khakimzyanov and several other separatist fighters.[17]

On 13 June, 2014 the Azov Battalion stormed separatists' barricades in Mariupol and seized control of the city center after a six-hour battle.[16] The group has been assigned to patrol the Azov Sea coastline and prevent arms smuggling.[16]

Ideology

The ideologue of S.N.A Oleg Odnorozhenko said in 2014 that the SNA stood for preserving “European identity”. He said: “We consider the present tendency of Europe leads to the destruction of civilisation, with no control of immigration, the destruction of the family, of religious identity and of everything that made Europe Europe.” He said that it had “contact but not close relations” with the British National Party.[18]

In 2014, political scientist Anton Shekhovtsov, Foreign Policy journalist Alec Luhn and Haaretz journalist Lolita Brayman described the S.N.A as a far-right, neo-Nazi or racist group.[19][20][21][22][23] A ministerial adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, denies these neo-Nazi allegations, stating that "The Social-National Assembly is not a neo-Nazi organization… It is a party of Ukrainian patriots."[23][24]

The S.N.A is also a "street combat movement" hostile to ethnic and social minorities: according to researchers and its own website it has carried out physical attacks against them.[3][6][7][8]

In 2014, over half the membership of the Azov Battalion, a military group with close ties to the Social-National Assembly, was composed of Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainians,[25] as well as a small number of Russian nationals (estimated at 50 in 2015).[26]

See also

References
  1. Brayman, Lolita (28 February 2014). "Ukrainian nationalists strive to shake off allegations of anti-Semitism". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  2. All-Ukrainian party "New Force" Archived 2014-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, Official site. (in Ukrainian)
  3. Shekhovtsov, Anton (2013). "17: From Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda". In Ruth Wodak (ed.). Right-Wing Populism in Europe. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 249–263. ISBN 978-1780932453.
  4. Olszański, Tadeusz (2011). "Svoboda party – the new phenomenon on the Ukrainian right-wing scene". OSW Commentary (56).
  5. Ishchenko, Volodymyr (21 Oct 2011). "Fighting Fences vs Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine". Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. 19 (1–2): 369–395. doi:10.1080/0965156X.2011.611680. S2CID 145492425.
  6. Volodymyr Batchayev; Oleg Martynenko; Yevhen Zakharov. "12. Protection against discrimination, racism and xenophobia". Annual Human Rights Reports • Human Rights in Ukraine 2009-2010. Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. Retrieved 12 May 2014. As a result of the raid, several Vietnamese containers were closed, together with the goods of the aliens, and the counters of Uzbeks and Gypsies were removed. The majority of Ukrainians, who were at the open air market at that time, were approving of the actions of national-socialists. As it was already mentioned before, Ukrainians entrepreneurs who sell at the market are firmly against aliens, in particular Vietnamese, Gypsies, and Uzbeks, etc., selling their goods there. Ukrainian entrepreneurs were supported by Social National Assembly, and by the organization «Patriot Ukraiiny». With joint efforts, the patriots and the entrepreneurs forced out the majority of aliens from the open air market of Vasylkiv during the last 2 weeks.
  7. "Migrants thrown out Vasylkivsky market". The Social National Assembly of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  8. Committee of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. "CERD/C/UKR/CO/19-21". Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. Utrecht School of Law. Retrieved 12 May 2014. In light of the resurgence of activities by extremist organizations such as "Social National Assembly" and "Patriot of Ukraine", the Committee notes with concern the repeated attacks against foreigners and members of "visible minorities" by young extremists and the information contained in paragraph 85 of the State party's report to the effect that the extreme right-wing movements are "in some respects beyond the Ministry of the Interior's legal competence"
  9. "Ukraine says thwarts holiday 'terrorist' bomb". Reuters. 22 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  10. "SBU opens criminal case against 'Vasylkiv terrorists'". Ukraine General Newswire. 23 August 2011.
  11. (in Russian) Маргарита Чимирис, Анастасия Браткова (Margarita Chemeris, Anastasia Bratkova). Кто шагает с правой: Радикалы Майдана хотят продолжения революции. Власть называет их провокаторами Archived 2014-04-06 at the Wayback Machine (Who walks right: Maidan radicals want to continue revolution. Authorities call them provocateurs), Internet-newspaper Vesti.ua, № 12(30), 4–10 April 2014.
  12. Radical protesters burst into Party of Regions' Kyiv office, Kyiv Post, February 18, 2014.
  13. "Right Sector will watch new govt, plans to stand for parliament". Ukraine General Newswire. 28 February 2014.
  14. "Ukraine Crisis: Rally Turns into Massive Brawl on Kiev's Maidan". Independent, Macedon. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014. According to eye witnesses, 100 people, reportedly members of the far-right Social-National Assembly, marching with burning torches towards Maidan – the epicenter of the massive uprising that removed former President Yanukovich from power. The marchers came to commemorate those killed during anti-government protests in December–February… Maidan self-defense units blocked the rally at the barricades across from the main post office, prompting a massive fight. The far-right protesters reportedly used firecrackers, traumatic guns, and tear gas. Many of them carried bats and sticks.
  15. МИД Украины назвало погром под посольством РФ провокацией (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called the pogrom at the Russian Embassy a provocation), Internet-newspaper Vesti.ua, 15 June 2014
  16. Chazan, Guy (1 August 2014). "Ukrainian volunteer fighters with a luxurious seaside residence". Financial Times. London. Azov was created in March by the Social National Assembly…. Azov was granted official status as a volunteer battalion…. Azov stormed the rebels' barricades, seizing control…. Since then, its main role has been to keep an eye on Mariupol and patrol the Azov coastline, preventing arms smuggling from Russia.
  17. Neistat, Anna (2014-05-07). "Dispatches: A Damning Silence From Kiev". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  18. Hoyle, Ben (2014-09-05). "Neo Nazis give Kiev a last line of defence in the east". The Times. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
  19. Shekhovtsov, Anton (2013). "17: From Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda". In Ruth Wodak (ed.). Right-Wing Populism in Europe. Blumsbury Academic. pp. 249–263. ISBN 978-1780932453. At the same time, Nova Syla's Yuriy Zbitnyev is one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Social-National Assembly, an organization that is also close to the younger members of Svoboda, but Nova Syla itself, while remaining on the fringes of Ukrainian politics, is not much influenced by these relations.
  20. Shekhovtsov, Anton (2013). Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse. A&C Black. p. 256. ISBN 9781780932453. Interestingly, 'street combat movements' like the SNA no longer focus on ethnic issues: in contrast to the older Ukrainian far right, the new groups are, first and foremost, racist movements. Their disregard for the perceived 'Ukrainian versus Russian' ethno-cultural cleavage allows them to gain support from many 'white' ultra-nationalists. Once drawn to these movements, 'white racists' also contribute to the organizational efficiency of the Svoboda party, which is, to reiterate, considered the only representative of 'white racism' in the Ukrainian electoral sphere.
  21. Brayman, Lolita (28 February 2014). "Ukrainian nationalists strive to shake off allegations of anti-Semitism". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 May 2014. Some Pravy Sektor protesters on the Maidan sported yellow armbands with the wolf hook symbol revealing their specific political party affiliation—that of the Social National Assembly (SNA), a largely Kiev-based neo-Nazi organization. Other more openly anti-Semitic parties are White Hammer and C14, the neo-Nazi youth wing of the Svoboda party.
  22. Volodymyr Batchayev; Oleg Martynenko; Yevhen Zakharov. "12. Protection against discrimination, racism and xenophobia". Annual Human Rights Reports / Human Rights in Ukraine, 2009–2010. Helsinki Human Rights Group. Retrieved 12 May 2014. On the public request, the authorities stopped the musical festival «Traditions of Spirit» near Kyiv, scheduled for June 26–27, 2010, under the aegis of the radical «Social Nationalist Assembly» with the goal to promulgate among the youth the ideas of neo-Nazi and chauvinism. During the festival, the performances of ultra-right musical bands were planned («Sokyra Peruna», «Seitar», «Nachtigall», «White Lions»), who in the lyrics of their songs openly approve and show in romantic light the skinhead movement, promote Hitlerist aesthetics, and encourage to harass national minorities.
  23. Luhn, Alec (30 August 2014). "Preparing for War with Ukraine's Fascist Defenders of Freedom". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  24. Rico, R.J. (10 September 2014). "The ultras, Azov Battalion, and soccer from inside Ukraine". VICE Sports. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. [The] members of Azov Battalion … have been labeled patriots by some, neo-Nazis by others…
  25. "Driven by far-right ideology, Azov Battalion mans Ukraine's front line - Al Jazeera America". Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  26. Sukhov, Oleg (24 April 2015). "Foreigners Who Fight And Die For Ukraine: Russians join Ukrainians to battle Kremlin in Donbas". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015.
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