Kiev Thugs vs Anti-Kiev Thugs - Russian Army Intimidates

[Reality Check]

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — The pro-Ukraine (pro-Kiev) activists struck before dawn Thursday while the separatists were fast asleep, retaking city hall after nearly two weeks of occupation and notching a small but critical victory in the struggle to keep this country’s eastern half from slipping into Russian hands.

On Thursday, the dozens of pro-Russia demonstrators had been caught off guard by the 3:45 a.m. raid of an approximately equal number of Ukraine (pro-Kiev) partisans who had armed themselves with sticks and baseball bats, according to participants and officials.

The police were soon called in, and the defeated pro-Russia demonstrators were escorted out. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov took to Facebook to trumpet the liberation, calling it “good and right” and vowing to continue “the process of normalization.”

But on the ground in Mariupol, the tide was already turning back toward the separatists. As the demonstrators negotiated with city authorities, a crowd of sympathizers gathered around the building.

By Friday, the pro-Russia Donetsk People’s Republic had been reinstated in this heavily industrial port city of half a million. Inside city hall, the separatists were busy — restocking supplies of molotov cocktails, brokering deals with the local police and vowing not to yield until they win their freedom from the government in Kiev.

The episode reflects the massive challenge that Ukrainian authorities face as they try to reassert their authority in a region where government buildings remain in separatist hands a week after Russia and the West agreed on a plan to end the occupations.

Rather than accede to demands to leave, the pro-Russia demonstrators have flouted them with increasingly aggressive behavior that tests not only Kiev but also its Western backers.

As Russia has escalated (thousands of Russian troops moving just over the border in Russia), the Ukrainian government’s loudly advertised “anti-terrorist campaign” — dependent on weak security forces of questionable loyalty — has foundered. With tens of thousands of Russian troops poised to pour into Ukraine at a moment’s notice, Kiev’s ability to influence events across its eastern region appeared to be diminishing by the day.

“The state is weak. That is the main problem,” said Yevgeny, a pro-Ukraine (pro-Kiev) activist in Mariupol who is too concerned about retribution to allow his last name to be printed. “The city authorities don’t know what to do. They don’t want blood. They don’t want conflict. And so the Donetsk People’s Republic is back.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/eur ... story.html