On May 2nd 2014 inhabitants of Odessa were alive burned, and none of the instigators, so far, have been judicially punished.
I want to remind readers about the role of Parubiy and his henchmen in the events on May 2nd.
Parubiy, who back then was the head of the National Security and Defence Council, supervised the “third sector” — numerous power groups without official status conditionally loyal to the authorities.
Some of them were created locally, in the regions of Ukraine, but most of them were formed on the basis of Euromaidan “self-defence”.
In March-April 2014 militant groups of “Maidan protesters” were actively transferred to different regions of Ukraine, and not least – to Odessa. There were checkpoints that appeared at the entrances of Odessa, where civilians in uniform and with weapons were on duty.
In particular, Nemirovsky’s people organised the resettlement of Maidan activists in the hotels and sanatoria of Odessa and its suburbs (“Pavlov’s House” in Luzanovka, “White Acacia” on French Boulevard, “Economist” recreation facility in Zatoka, etc.).
Most of the Maidan activists who participated in the events on May 2nd formed a circle around Parubiy. So, it was with Parubiy that the so-called “Defence Council of Odessa” worked, which was back then headed by Ruslan Forostyak, who later became an adviser to the head of the regional police department.
The 7th and 14th hundred-member “Maidan self-defence forces”, another group of about 50 people led by Nikolay Volkov (the notorious “Mikola sotnik”), who was also in direct contact with Parubiy, arrived in Odessa literally on the eve of the events – on April 29th.
During the same period, Parubiy personally arrived in Odessa, went around checkpoints, and gave the garrisons there bulletproof vests.
Odessa was one of the largest centers of resistance to Maidan — meetings of supporters of the pro-Russian Kulikovo Field in March-April 2014 brought together from 10,000 to 40,000 people.
The existence of a tent town in front of the House of Trade Unions was a cataract in an eye of the new Kiev authorities.
We were warned that there was a certain scenario being developed in Kiev. The tent town had to be demolished on the eve of May 9th, allegedly because of a parade that will take place on Kulikovo Field. The headquarters of Kulikovo Field made on April 30th the decision to move to 411 Batareya Street. Now I am sure that we did the right thing.
We were naive, we were not ready for bloodshed. We did not think that we would be killed, and did not gather. But they were ready.
In addition, they chose an opportune moment — May Day, everyone in the country had a day off. Before that, there were false alarms, many decided that this time nothing serious would happen. In general Kulikovo Field collected signatures for a referendum on federalisation. They thought that all contradictions could be solved democratically.
The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs knew that pro-Ukrainian militarised protesters would arrive at the city.
Therefore in April armed militants of Maidan “self-defences” and members of “Right Sector” started to be brought to the city to implement the scenario of a violent dispersal of Kulikovo Field, similar to Zaporozhye and Nikolaev.
So, on the day of April 26 alone about 1200 people were brought to Odessa.
It was obvious that there will be some clashes. The authorities did everything so that there would be victims. I cannot prove that the fire in the House of Trade Unions was planned. But the emergence of victims was facilitated by the authorities with both hands.
It is important that there is already a lot of proof that certain forces that had power in Odessa did a lot of things so that the hundred-member units and supporters of “Right Sector” who arrived to Odessa on May 2nd 2014 felt absolutely free to commit violent acts. The authorities knew that an attempt to attack the camp on Kulikovo Field would be made, but did not protect the people there.
Moreover, after the clashes on Grecheskaya Square, it was possible to set up a police cordon on Kulikovo field.
On May 2nd 2014 it was no longer a fight – the historical part of the city (the area of Deribasovskaya Street, Grecheskaya Street, Preobrazhenskaya Street, and Ekaterininskaya Street) turned into a real battlefield – chains, paving slabs, stun grenades, and firearms were used.
The center of the city was plunged into the darkness of death and cruelty – everywhere. The streets were covered with shards of broken glass, debris from trash cans, extinguished fires, and paving slabs completely uprooted. Then the terrible thing began. The crowd flew into a rage. It became clear that there would be no mercy – nationalists were ready for destruction. Thugs with bats in their hands, under the leadership of Yusov, went to Kulikovo Field. They had plenty of bottles of the deadly liquid, prepared in advance, knowing that they would be useful.
Alas, the police remained idle.
The “perpetrators” of the crime were not the murderers, but the victims. Several Kulikovo Field activists were detained by the SBU. I, since May 2014, am “persona non grata” in Ukraine and, together with ten colleagues, am wanted by the SBU.
It is no coincidence that after the second of May 2014 the city’s SBU was formed for the second time from “Maidan veterans”. Even Valentin Nalyvaichenko (the head of the Security Service of Ukraine in 2014-2015) did not hide it. There were doubts about the loyalty of the townspeople.
The SBU carried out the “purging” of Odessa from oppositional journalists, as well as from the relatives of the victims in the House of Trade Unions. Today we can say that none of the officials received any punishment for the murder of Odessa citizens. We can wait…
Those who were burned and taken out, alive and dead, and those who burned, who coldly condemned people to a painful death, or joyfully and stupidly giggled, finishing off the wounded, will be identified. In this world, nothing goes unnoticed, and everything has witnesses.
It is not for nothing that the current Kiev and local Odessa authorities are so afraid of this. Six years later secrets are becoming open … the organisers/performers are now giving testimonies/interviews.
The former adviser to the head of the Odessa head of the National Police, “Maidan protester” Ruslan Forostyak, claimed that Parubiy “was coordinated in Odessa with me and Sergey Gutsalyuk”.
Forostyak forgot to add that Parubiy personally gave a bulletproof vest to the “Mikola sotnik” – Nikolay Voronov, who on the day of the tragedy fired a gun at the House of Trade Unions. Vsevolod Goncharevsky finished off with a stick the people who jumped out of a window.
Khodiyak, who fired a gun at anti-Maidan protesters on Grecheskaya Square, is today still at large.
Goncharenko, who looted the phones of the dead and joyfully on the air of “Shuster Live” announced the purging of Kulikovo Field, is today a free man.
They are already confused in their testimonies. They are ready to reproach each other and blame each other, from a sick head to a healthy one, if there is at least one healthy head left.
How then will they be afraid and beg for leniency when the police convoy will lead them to interrogations from the cells where they put Odessa “anti-Maidan”!
In 2018, a native of Georgia, Cesari Bajalidze, told Israeli journalists that he was part of a group of mercenaries who attacked anti-Maidan activists on Parubiy’s orders. “The order was to destroy everything, to burn down everything that will be in the way. In Odessa he ordered. He gave a clear command: to arrive, leave, destroy everything, to set fire and leave,” said Bajalidze.
There are no doubts that the interest of law enforcement agencies in Andriy Parubiy in the context of investigations of events on May 2nd is reasonable and justified.
Naturally, during Poroshenko’s regime there could be no talk about any objective investigation into the events on May 2nd 2014.
Because in the course of the investigation it can reach the leaders of the state and, above all, Parubiy, who by this time was already the speaker of the Parliament, i.e., according to the Constitution, the second person in the state
Today we have Zelensky in power, and what do we see?!
All statements of Zelensky’s entourage about jailing functionaries of the previous regime remain only loud declarations, not confirmed by real deeds.
And concerning this same Parubiy, the authorities have either to investigate, i.e., to find out his real role in the Odessa tragedy, or following the former president Poroshenko, to take responsibility for hiding real criminals.
A case was factually opened, but Parubiy is not even a mentioned suspect there yet. This wording allows to keep Parubiy “on the hook”, threatening to change his procedural status from a witness to a suspect/accused.
I.e., in this affair there are two options: the case against Parubiy is either a shy attempt to start an investigation, or a way to keep Parubiy under control.
Avakov and Parubiy are colleagues, they are tied together by bloodshed, therefore a case against Parubiy cannot but irritate Avakov. But, again, there are no real reasons for optimism yet. It is difficult to jail him – it will implicate other people, and they don’t want this.
The criminal proceedings that are registered on the basis of Andrey Portnov‘s statement are not a case against Parubiy. It’s just that the Agency is still checking the facts, and facts are a stubborn thing. There are a huge number of video recordings, surviving activists, witnesses, but 6 years after the tragedy the investigation has not answered the main questions: Who shot at people? Who started the fire in the House of Trade Unions? Who finished off the activists there – inside and on the street?
And, above all — who gave the order to kill?
So we’ll keep an eye on it.
My fellow citizens still write to me: “You will never return to Odessa, don’t even dream of it, we will catch all of you”. I’m nervous. Especially in recent years.
Alyona Babinina
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