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Ukrainian Paramilitary Leader Assassinated, Moscow to Blame?

Categories: Eastern & Central Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Breaking News, Citizen Media, International Relations, Politics, War & Conflict, RuNet Echo

Over the past several hours rumors [1][uk] have spread [2][ru] through [3][ru] the Russian Internet claiming that Alexander Muzychko [4], second-in-command to Ukraine's ultra-nationalist “Right Sector” leader Dmytro Yarosh, was gunned down near the Western Ukrainian city of Rivno. Muzychko had earlier posted a YouTube video [5] [ru] claiming he had information that he was going to be eliminated by Ukrainian security forces. If his death, yet unconfirmed, is true, it will be unclear who to blame — too many people have reasons to take him out of the picture. A Chechen blogger, Zulikhan Magomadova [6] [ru], writing in Russian, blamed the Kremlin for the assassination, with the motive of fomenting civil war in Ukraine. Muzychko fought along side Chechen separatists during the first Chechen war. Magomadova ended with “Sleep well, our dear brother-in-arms. We will avenge you.”