© Andrey Veselov
Sergei Sanovsky at the Azov training base outside Kiev.
In an exclusive, in-depth interview with Sputnik, Sergei Sanovsky, a former training instructor for one of Ukraine's most notorious far-right volunteer militias, shared his story about how he went from being hailed a "hero of Maidan" to getting kidnapped and tortured by Ukraine's Security Service for refusing to run an extrajudicial death squad.
'A Simple Hero of the Maidan'
Sergei Sanovsky comes from a long line of career military men. Before 2014, he served in a Spetsnaz detachment of Ukraine's Internal Troops, commanding a reconnaissance group and working as a sniper instructor before leaving military service.
Sergei participated in the Maidan street protests, which rocked Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014 and culminated in the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych was ousted after he reversed course on the signing of an association agreement with the European Union.
"This was like a breath of fresh air," Sanovsky recalled, speaking to Sputnik from Myanmar, the country he fled to after leaving his home country in 2017. "It seemed then that we could really change the country for the better."
© Sputnik/ Andrey Stenin
Fire, smoke and protesters on Maidan square in Kiev. February 22, 2014
During the protests,
Sergei and his friend tried to hide a group of protesters from the Berkut riot police. He was caught and received a vicious beating, with the police breaking his jaw and knocking out most of his teeth. He was unconscious for two days and required several surgeries. In the pro-Maidan Ukrainian press, he was sympathetically
hailed as "A simple hero of the Maidan."
Comment: The West has been at the forefront of using social media to meddle in the affairs of other countries as well as within their own to smear those they deem a threat: