Berkut member: I will protect any government, even Yatsenyuk
Ukrainian riot policemen decline to talk to journalists, yet some have agreed to speak only after injuries.
It is hard to hear any unbiased information about Berkut in Kiev now. There are graffiti, caricatures, insults and threats – all this is addressed to the riot police working at Maidan and in Grushevski Street.
Berkut members beat protesters, make them undress in the cold and photograph them for fun. They dislike journalists too –photographers and cameramen have complained about being targeted by their guns many times. Even Belarusians have suffered from Berkut’s actions – the riot police beat Belsat reporters in Cherkasy.
The websites lenta.ru and thekievtimes.ua have managed to interview wounded Berkut members in hospital anonymously. Here are some extracts from the conversations:
About beating
“We are people too. This is our job. You need to demand changes in a peaceful way, without using force. I do not support those Berkut members who beat people but I think that it is normal in situations when you life is in danger.”
About journalists
“There are different journalists. Some may be running around in bright jackets with the inscription PRESS. Others are wearing goggles, masks and helmets. How do I know who they are? They may be revolutionaries trying to blow up my bus.”
About snipers and murders
“Berkut has snipers but it takes them 10 seconds to kill a person. You can kill six people in a minute. They say that snipers are waiting for the whole night – do you know how many people they could kill in that time? They did not find any sniper bullets there – only a .12 hunting bullet.”
About the first dispersal of Euromaidan
“We told them to leave three or four times. Even animals could understand it better. They say that we beat students but I saw them putting a burning log under a Berkut member’s face guard and holding it there. I saw that he does not have skin on his face anymore.”
About Yanukovich and his defence
“Do you think it was easy for me to make myself stay in the security services when Yanukovich came to power? Does anyone have a good plan of actions now? Yanukovich did not manage to get the country out of the crisis in 4 years and I will definitely not vote for him. But I will not vote for Yatsenyuk either as his hands are stained with blood. I’d rather tear my ballot paper apart... However, we will protect him if he becomes President. We chose this job ourselves.”
There are about 4 thousand Berkut members in Ukraine. They are protecting the governmental area and the buildings of the Cabinet, Vekhovna Rada and the President’s Administration in Kiev and Yanukovich’s residence in Mizhgorye now. They only need an order and 30 or 40 minutes for a total cleanup of Kiev, their commanders say.
Photo: yaplakal.com
