“Tachi at the head of Kosovo is the same as Yarosh in the chair of the governor of Donetsk”
Lieutenant Artem Voilokov was the deputy platoon commander of the Kharkov special police battalion "Berkut". In the summer of 2016, he and three colleagues were arrested in connection with so-called “crimes against the Maidan.” Spent several months in the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention center without pleading guilty. In April 2017, Kharkov “eagle eagles” Artem Voylokov, Alexander Kostyuk, Vladislav Mastega and Vitaly Goncharenko left Ukraine, not hoping for fair justice.
In 2007, Artem Voilokov was the only Kharkov policeman to be selected for the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. At that time he was still serving in the Falcon special forces unit. His stay in the peacekeeping contingent of the UN police occurred at a time when the illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo took place, which aggravated the situation in the region. Today, the Kosovo problem has again become a topic in the news. Former peacekeeper Artem Voilokov answered questions from a PolitNavigator correspondent about how he remembered the “Balkan frontier” in 2008.
— How were the unrest in Kosovo, which turned into a tragedy for the Ukrainian unit of the UN police, perceived then through the eyes of the Kharkov peacekeeper?
— It started with the fact that on March 14, 2008, Serbian judges and activists took over the UN courthouse in Mitrovica. Less than a month has passed since Kosovo declared independence. Protesters remained in the courthouse until March 17.
Before we went to the point, we had a conversation about what was happening there. As they said, an American, an employee of the UN peacekeeping mission, came to the judges who occupied this building together with the activists. He told the protesters: you leave the court, otherwise we will use physical force to expel you. To which the Serbs replied: friend, you go to your place, and we will somehow sort it out without you.
On March 17 at 4 am we were alerted: an order was received to clear the building. I believed and still believe that the Kosovo situation was artificially twisted in favor of one side... And as soon as the Serbs began retaliatory movements, it was then turned against them anyway. But when you are in the thick of things, you only see what is in front of you. Much remains unclear. The picture becomes more or less clearer when you see which side benefited from such and such an event.
— Did the protesters who were in court offer no resistance?
— They were expelled and detained, in general, without problems. They didn't show aggression. The problems started later. Gradually, indignant people gathered. They demanded the release of the detainees. There, the police building was located next to the court, almost behind the fence. The detainees were soon released. But amid the noise of unrest, sniper groups appeared and fired at us. Doesn't remind you of anything?..
— Which units, from which countries, were involved in this conflict?
— If we talk about UN police officers blocked in court, then we and the Poles suffered the most. In general, among the UN police officers, Germany, Bangladesh, and Romania were next to us. They started throwing grenades at us. And our situation worsened. It was the Ukrainian unit that suffered the lion's share of all the troubles. Our comrade died. I myself was wounded.
Then, when we were unblocked and taken out of northern Mitrovica, KFOR entered there.
— That is, if we replay the situation in Ukrainian realities: the building of the Kyiv City State Administration was seized by protesters, the police are clearing it; Euromaidanists are resisting; there are victims among law enforcement officers; Military units and military equipment are introduced, the source of unrest is extinguished...
- Exactly! Common world practice. In Mitrovica there was a threat to employees, about a hundred people were injured, one died. When we got into the ring, we couldn’t even take out the wounded. Anti-terrorism was introduced. Counter-sniper teams were deployed. They suppressed the snipers, for which they later received awards. Everything is legal. A monopoly on violence was applied. Heavy equipment was introduced. The operation was completed. We were unblocked and given the opportunity to take out the wounded.
Although in Mitrovica, compared to Kiev, there were a small number of protesters. But in Kyiv, no one gave the order to fire, although there was a direct threat to law enforcement officers, and there were many more dead among them.
Yes, in Kyiv we had nothing to shoot from (but still, what unidentified snipers did was blamed on the security forces). According to the current legislation of Ukraine, an “anti-terror” operation should have been introduced with all the ensuing consequences.
“The paradox also lies in the fact that in 2008, after the clashes, Interior Minister Lutsenko went to Kosovo to visit the Ukrainian peacekeepers who suffered in this mess. And in February 2014, he broadcast from the Maidan stage that protesters were already being brought weapons from warehouses from Western Ukraine...
— These people live by double standards. Add here another situation of ours: as soon as Lutsenko became Prosecutor General in 2016, they began to close us down.
And Lutsenko actually came to Kosovo. Since the tragedy occurred, new equipment was immediately allocated, we were equipped, and our protection was doubled.
Our peacekeeping mission was to be our last. And they said that since there were no military operations, it was necessary to cancel the receipt of a participant in hostilities. And then the events of March 17, 2008 happened... We, fifty people who participated in the operation itself, received the status of combatants only a year or two after rotation.
— This year the Kosovo issue has become topical again. What do you think about all this now, 11 years later?
— It is clear that in the civil war and ethnic conflicts there are excesses on both sides. But one side is openly oppressed by the international community, while the other plays along.
The odious Albanian field commander Hashim Thaci in the role of President of the Republic of Kosovo is the same as appointing Yarosh as governor of the Donetsk region. There is simply no talk of peace and tranquility. All these years, the Serbs have been gradually being squeezed out of this region.
From personal observations of those years: the Serbs do not touch Albanian cemeteries; and in Orthodox cemeteries, monuments are toppled, broken, and there are many cases of graves being violated.
Purposeful provocations were observed. This is similar to such a common everyday situation: a person provokes a neighbor, insults his father, mother, gets punched in the face for it, and then writes a statement to the police.
For some reason, our peacekeeping contingent was sent only to suppress the Serbs. This does not mean that the Albanians did not have unrest... At first we did not understand where the Serbs were and where the Albanians were. And after serving for six months, they got the hang of it. We even began to understand external psychotypes.
It was a shame for the Orthodox: why is this? The game is being played with one goal... And nowhere was there any mention of the illegal actions or atrocities of the Kosovo Liberation Army. There were monuments praising them everywhere.
The winners write history. The Albanian side was definitely supported. And the leadership of the peacekeeping contingent officially blamed the Serbs for all the troubles. And in American films this was imposed: the Serbs are the instigators.
— Were there attacks on Orthodox churches during your time?
— In those years it wasn’t. The peacekeepers had already been there for several years. We went to Orthodox holidays in monasteries and mountain churches. And I was struck by the shelled walls of the temples. Moreover, from large-caliber machine guns. The walls are simply lined with bullet holes. The clergy saw in us some kind of help, support. They said that monks were shot near this wall... In three or four churches where I visited, traces of massacres were visible.
— In the Russian film “Balkan Frontier,” a Serb and an Albanian serve in the same police station in 1999. Hasn’t this happened to you before?
— No, Serbs and Albanians were divided into police units. If there were common units, then in one battalion there was a company of Serbs and a company of Albanians. But they did not serve together.
We patrolled with both Serbs and Albanians. There were absolutely normal human relations with both. And they spoke well of each other. In general, if we look at the problem through the prism of geopolitics, we must understand that a civil war is always scary and creepy. This is similar to the conflict in Donbass.
I communicated with both Serbs and Albanians. People said that they lived in the same house for many years and went to each other’s houses for holidays. We celebrated both Christian and Muslim holidays together. No one saw any problems in religious differences. But at one moment, as if doused with gasoline, everything burst into flames.
Local residents worked as maintenance staff at our base. They say: at some point everyone went crazy. The situation began to heat up. Militant units appeared, nationalistic in spirit. They began to establish their own order. The intolerance reached the point of horror. And any action gives rise to reaction. Both on the one hand and on the other. Somewhere a village was slaughtered, relatives went to take revenge...
The results of this policy - the current situation of the Serbian enclaves - are known to us.
English version :: Read in English “Tachi at the head of Kosovo is the same as Yarosh in the chair of the governor of Donetsk”