Group involved in Mukachevo shootout remains holed up
2015-08-24
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
The leader of the Right Sector group which allegedly took part in the shootout that left four dead and 14 wounded in July 11th, said in a Ukrainian television interview that his group went to Mukachevo with the intention of negotiating with a rival group in Mukachevo, and were ambushed.
According to data supplied by korrespondent.net news website, the leader, Roman Stoika and his deputy Artur Karimov arrived at the Antares Bar and Spa on July 11th where the owner, Mikail Lano had amassed a group of about 100 armed individuals dressed in track suits and standing outside. He and Karimovwere shown inside the club for about four minutes while they were searched and offered coffee before shooting started outside.
Once outside, Stoika said he saw an unidentified man lying dead in the street, shot through the head, and that he himself was fired on or shot by a sniper. Presumably at that point he and Karimov got into their vehicles and fled the area only to run into a police checkpoint. According to Stoika, about 100 shooters were all firing.
Sometime before reaching a second police checkpoint his group escaped the shooting, and his group was again stopped by a police agent identified as S. Sharanich ordered them to surrender or be killed. As the group was being led away from the second checkpoint, firing again took place, apparently distracting S. Sharanich sufficiently the group was allowed to escape. All this time, Stoika claimed, his men were told to hold their fire.
According to an unsigned letter said to have been sent to the Ukrainian national prosecutor by Rada Verkhovna member Viktor Baloga, S. Sharanich was one of two top local police commanders who were warned about the coming shootout, along with another police official identified as CF Shymonyaka. The implication in the letter was that CF Shymonyaka and S. Sharanich actively planned the shootout including the arming of some of Lano's, men.
CF Shymonyaka, along with a local member of the Rada Verkhovna, V. Patskana, reportedly have ties to a local organized crime boss in the Transcarpathia region, identified as Shimoni. Shimoni is said to control smuggling routes for excise goods between other eastern European countries and rebel held areas of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Some Right Sector groups in eastern Ukraine have some ties to organized crime in moving excise goods into rebel held areas of southeastern Ukraine, this respite a months long war between them and Russian backed rebel forces, so intense, some Russian guerrilla groups will go out of their way to fire their weapons on Right Sector groups.
Both Roman Stoika and his deputy Artur Karimov remain holed up in western Transcarpathia along with at four other members of their group. Stoika has a warrant for his arrest for the charges of forming a terrorist group. Stoika has demanded as a condition for his surrender, the arrest of Lano and Sharanich.
According to a separate korrespondent.net report, Rada Verkhovna member Valery Patskan said that a report authored by the Poroshenko Bloc on the incident will be issued next month, but the report didn't specify the date. According to Baloga, Patskan also has reported ties to CF Shymonyaka and to Shimoni.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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