Ukrainian Police Kill Leader of Far-Right Group

Ukrainian police killed one of the top leaders of a prominent ultra-nationalist right wing group who played a large role in the recent anti-government protests Monday night.

Right Sector leader Oleksandr Muzychko was killed in a shootout with Ukrainian police and Special Forces after they raided the Rivne café he was in, according to Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov.

"Muzychko was shot in his leg, but he tried to return fire. Later when he was kicked down to the ground, he kept shooting and was injured. Doctors have confirmed Muzychko’s death,” Yevdokimov said, according to the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency.

The Ukrainian government considers the Right Sector a dangerous criminal gang and had issued an arrest warrant for Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bily, on charges of “hooliganism.”

Ukrainian far-right leader Aleksandr Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bilyi, was reportedly shot dead on March 24 near Rivne in western Ukraine.

However, in a conflicting report, an independent Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksander Doniy said on his Facebook page that Muzychko’s death was an execution, rather than a raid for his arrest. Doniy said that unidentified assailants captured Muzychko outside the café after dragging him out of his car and later shot him twice directly in the heart.

Muzychko appeared in several videos that surfaced during the Kiev uprisings that showed him threatening and punching a Ukrainian lawyer and brandishing a Kalashnikov rifle — in retaliation for those killed in the demonstrations.

Russia also issued an arrest for Muzychko, but for different charges. The Russian Investigative Committee wanted Muzychko for his role during the Chechen war in the 1990s, where he allegedly tortured and then killed at least 20 Russian prisoners captured during the fighting.

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Part of Putin’s justification for the recent Russian invasion of Crimea was to protect Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine from the threat of rightwing groups like the Right Sector. Russian state media was widely credited for hyping up fears and exaggerating the threat posed from Muzychko and other nationalist leaders, in order to gain support for the invasion of Crimea.

It could be why Ukrainian police chose to target Muzychko, who eventually was seen as a liability by the government for making Russian claims of ultra-nationalism closer to a reality.

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Despite Muzychko's death, the far-right movement in Ukraine has not been deterred in Ukraine. Dmytro Yarosh, another prominent leader of the Right Sector, announced that he would run for president of Ukraine in elections set to take place May 25.

Like Muzychko, Yarosh also played a pivotal role in overthrowing former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and was also often painted by Russian media and politicians as a neo-Nazi or neo-fascist.

He is widely seen as the political counter to the more moderate and popular Yulia Timoshenko, who is also expected to run for president.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @obecker928