Clashes between opposing activists turned into mass murder. The perpetrators have never been punished.Eight years ago this Monday, something significant happened in Odessa, a historically important city in the southwest of Ukraine. Although the West didn't see it as such, for Russia and the newly formed Donbass republics, what transpired there became a symbolic episode.
Provincial revolutionFrom late 2013 into early 2014, a conflict between the government of President Viktor Yanukovich and the pro-Western opposition was unfolding in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The series of events that would ensue were dubbed the 'Euromaidan'. Meanwhile, Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, was of course affected by these events too, albeit to a lesser extent.
Occasional clashes with police and scuffles between supporters of Euromaidan and those aligned with the government, which became known as the 'Anti-Maidan' movement, were nothing compared to the bloodshed in Kiev, where people were being killed.
Many Ukrainians didn't welcome the Euromaidan, and they had their reasons. Lots of Odessa residents had strong ties with Russia, and still do. When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, a large number of ethnic Russians were living in Odessa and many had relatives in the old country.
The city was built during the reign of Catherine the Great and has always been seen as an integral part of Russia's history.Thus, the aggressive nationalism of Euromaidan was largely unpopular there and plenty of locals were frightened by what seemed to be a passion for forming militant units.
Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan in Odessa began to form parallel paramilitary organizations. Armed with a primitive array of sticks, biker helmets, and homemade weapons, these groups trained for street fighting. At first, nobody sought a fight to the death - the radicals hadn't yet gained the leading role in either movement.
Comment: It turned out the story already ran in Fourteen-year-old Ukrainian violently abducted by conscription officers - media Tracing the original for this article, there was from Bessarabia Inform the story in Russian and in Ukrainian. The original has this image:
Having lost hundreds of thousands with the encouragement from the Maidan coup masters and 'friends' in the EU and NATO, the recruiters in Ukraine who are tasked with finding people have a difficult job. Below are some headlines, which in no way do justice to the numerous videos, that have come out from Ukraine.
- Finland removes protection permit for foreign residents from Ukraine who fled conflict seeking asylum
- Estonia, Germany, say it will not deport Ukrainian men, as Poland considers it to bolster conscription crisis
- Best of the Web: Poland begins extraditing Ukrainian men who fled conscription
Outside of Ukraine, conscription is also a topic:Europe
- Russian ombudsman says excluding women from military conscription is a violation of their rights
- Putin signs new conscription law
- Russian Orthodox Church believes army conscription isn't ideal, and Putin agrees
- Professionals only: Military conscription in Russia to become a thing of the past - Putin
- UK, German officials are latest in Europe calling for conscription 'in the event of war'
- Sweden aims to reactivate civil conscription to shore up defences
- Germany considers bringing back conscription to boost falling army numbers
- Baltic leaders urge NATO to bring back conscription, suggest 'defence tax' and doubling of defence spending
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