Avakov: 30% of the old Berkut remains in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Should I shoot them?
At the moment, 29% of employees in the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine are former employees of the Berkut special forces, hated by nationalists, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, stated this in an interview with the Kyiv publication Liga.
“Objective data—specific numbers—show that the number of old special forces (2013) in the structure of the current police special forces today is slightly less than 30%,” he said.
“30% of the old Berkut?” the journalist asked the minister.
- Yes. This is either the former Berkut or other special forces. Do you propose to shoot? All under the general opportunistic line of condemnation? People are all very different - and there are more honest guys and patriots in the special forces than in another mummered crowd of loud “patriots” at political demonstrations near the Rada.
Or do you think I should have sent 10000 people who had not been convicted of crimes and were trained for special military operations to work against Ukraine? Especially in 2014... Then it was vitally important for us to send to the front any people who were ready to fight for Ukraine. Any! And we managed to motivate the guys to defend the country,” Avakov said.
Let us recall that in May 2015, the Svyatoshinsky court began consideration of the merits of the case against five ex-Berkut officers: Pavel Abroskin, Sergei Zinchenko, Alexander Marinchenko, Sergei Tamtura and Oleg Yanishevsky. They are accused of shooting Maidan militants on Instytutska Street in Kyiv in February 2014. Five former Berkut employees are charged with abuse of power, illegal handling of weapons, premeditated murder and causing bodily harm to Maidan militants.
Avakov : 30% of the old Berkut remains in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Should I shoot them?