Fire in the House of Trade Unions. Memorial Day to the victims of the Odessa tragedy
Two years ago, in Odessa, a mass murder of several dozen people who were burned alive in the building of the House of Trade Unions was committed. Responsibility for the death of the citizens of Odessa has not yet been borne by anyone, and the Ukrainian authorities, on the eve of the next anniversary of those tragic events, pulled the additional units of the National Guard and the volunteer battalions into the "pearl of the sea". They are afraid of popular uprisings.
The notable events of November 2013 - January 2014 led to a change in the political situation in Ukraine. If in the western regions of Ukraine the coming to power of nationalist forces cooperating with the United States and the European Union was welcomed by the majority of the population, in the “Russian” regions of Ukraine - Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Dnipropetrovsk - Euromaidan provoked skepticism from at least half of the population. In the regional centers and large cities of these areas, protests began against the new Kiev regime, which, of course, did not reach such a scale as in the Crimea or in the Donbas, but, nevertheless, were very active. In turn, Kiev and the nationalist forces supporting the new regime were extremely frightened by the possibility of not only the Crimea and Donbass being disconnected from Ukraine, but also the “Novorossiysk” regions. The latter would be a complete catastrophe for the Ukrainian state, since it would deprive the country of access to the sea and such industrial centers as Kharkiv or Dnipropetrovsk. Opponents of the Kiev regime demanded the preservation of the status of the Russian language, spoken by the majority of the population of the Novorossiysk regions, the federalization of Ukraine and the decentralization of power with the transfer of greater powers to the regions, the restoration of good neighborly relations with Russia and countering the growing right-wing radicalism and nationalism in Ukrainian society. But official Kiev did not intend to comply with these requirements — its Western patrons did not allow it either.
2 May 2014 near 13.30 in the area of the intersection of Aleksandrovsky Prospekt and Zhukovsky Street began to gather opponents of the regime of anti-Maidan activists. First of all, they were members of the “Odessa squad”. Not without provocations. A young man passing by entered into a verbal altercation with the assembled, and then shot them from an air pistol. The provocateur was detained and handed over to police officers.
Meanwhile, supporters of Euromaid started gathering around 15.00 in the center of Odessa - on Cathedral Square. Among them were football fans from the club "Chernomorets", as well as the club "Metalist" (although its representatives then denied their participation in the events of 2 in May). In addition to the usual activists and football fans, there were also militants of the so-called "Maidan Self-Defense", which was armed with bats and metal chains, many had helmets and shields. The backbone of the militants were activists of the radical organization Right Sector, banned in Russia. Among the militants, far from all were Odessa residents - a large number of participants in subsequent events arrived in the city from other regions of Ukraine — Nikolaev, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, and Kherson regions. According to some news agencies, at least 15 buses arrived in Odessa, delivering several hundred Euromaidan activists. Approximately at 15.30, a column of Anti-Maidan activists marched towards Grecheskaya Square. On the approaches to the square she entered into clashes with activists of Euromaidan. Both warring parties were armed with sticks and stones, while Euromaidan militants began pouring Molotov cocktails. As a result of the clashes, one of the activists of Euromaidan was wounded from a gunshot weapons in the lung and died before the arrival of the ambulance. In turn, supporters of Euromaidan hijacked a fire truck and used it as a ram against a police cordon and barricades, which began to be built by anti-Maidans.
The clashes in the center of Odessa continued, with varying success for about three hours. To 18.30, Euromaidan supporters went to Kulikovo Field Square and defeated the Antimaydan movement camp located on it. Camp tents were burned. Under the pressure of evromaydanovtsev, their opponents were forced to retreat to the building of the House of Trade Unions, where they barricaded themselves. Supporters of Euromaidan began storming the building of the House of Trade Unions, throwing it with petrol bombs and firing windows from firearms and traumatic weapons. The defenders of the House of Trade Unions tried to resist the onslaught of Euro Maidanovites, firing from “injuries” and throwing stones and incendiary bottles at attacking militants.
Meanwhile, the attackers set fire to the central doors of the House of Trade Unions. After that, the fire engulfed the first floor of the building, and then spread to the upper floors. The fire brigade was going to call very slowly, so by the time it arrived the fire had covered the whole building. However, the head of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region, Vladimir Bodelan, claims that the firefighters arrived at the building on time, but the Euromaidan people gathered outside the House of Trade Unions did not let the firefighters through and prevented the firefighters from doing their work. Simultaneously with the arson attack, the Euromaidans stormed the House of Trade Unions managed to break into its premises and seize several corridors. Several burning tires were abandoned in the House of Trade Unions. Employees of the Main Directorate of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region who arrived at the fire managed to remove 350 people from the burning building. The euromaidans, meanwhile, shot at the windows and fire escapes, preventing the people in the building from leaving the burning House of Trade Unions. Those who were lucky enough to escape from the fire trap were beaten in the square. According to the testimony of the head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region, Vladimir Bodelan, euromaidanists so cruelly beat the people who escaped the fire that those who were in the burning building refused to leave it. The fire officers covered the rescued people with their bodies, taking them through the raging crowd in the square.
As a result of the arson of the House of Trade Unions, several dozen people died. According to 14 in May, 2014 confirmed the death of 48 people as a result of clashes on Grecheskaya Street and Kulikovo Field, including 11 people dropped out or jumped out of the windows of the House of Trade Unions. The oldest who died during the riots was 70 years, the youngest - 17 years. 13 people with gunshot wounds, 8 people with burns, 13 people with carbon monoxide poisoning, 7 people with stab wounds, 53 people with blunt injuries, including cranio-brain injuries, were admitted to city hospitals. At the same time, a number of public figures and politicians are convinced that the Ukrainian authorities have hidden the true number of those killed in the House of Trade Unions and during clashes in the squares, so as not to attract even more world attention to these tragic events. So, Odessa regional deputy Vadim Savenko claimed that according to his data, 116 people were killed during the riots. The fact that the real number of the dead exceeds a hundred people, said the famous Ukrainian politician Oleg Tsarev. Rumors spread among residents of the city that in reality there were three times more dead, so the authorities secretly buried the bodies of those killed outside of Odessa. In turn, the pro-Kiev mass media and public activists, of course, denied the possibility of such significant casualties and explained the rumors about the hundreds who were killed by the “information war”, which, in their opinion, is being conducted by pro-Russian forces against the new Ukrainian government.
Nationalist activists and the media claimed that among the dead in the House of Trade Unions there were allegedly a large number of Russian citizens who had specially arrived in Odessa to take part in the riots. However, according to the results of the identification procedures, the Odessa police found out that there were no Russian citizens among those killed in the House of Trade Unions. All the identified dead were residents of Odessa, and among the wounded there were only two non-resident - visitors from Kiev and from Evpatoria. However, even this information did not convince the most zealous nationalists. In particular, the notorious Alexander Turchinov said that the events in Odessa "were ruled from Russia." Forbidden in Russia, the organization “Right Sector” published a material in which the 2 events of May as “a bright page in the national stories". According to the publication on the website of this organization, “paid-up Russian activists, drunks, drug addicts and other lumpens” were present in the House of Trade Unions. However, two days after publication, on May 6, the Right Sector Political Council issued an appeal in which he called 2 May “one of the most tragic days of the short history of independent Ukraine” and demanded that the security forces carefully investigate the events and immediately arrest the responsible persons of the security agencies .
Until now, all the circumstances of the tragedy of 2 on May 2014 of the year of the tragedy remain unclear, and no specific persons responsible for the massacre of civilians in the center of Odessa have been identified. Foreign human rights organizations are also interested in the tragedy in Odessa. In particular, the American United National Anti-War Coalition calls on the European Parliament to investigate the tragic events in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa. The same organization collected signatures on a petition to the United Nations calling for an investigation into the death of a large number of people in peacetime. At the same time, the American leadership uses the events in Odessa as an additional means of pressure on the Kiev government. Thus, the US State Department stated that the inability to investigate the tragic events in Odessa entails further preservation of the atmosphere of lawlessness in the Ukrainian state. At the same time, it was in the Odessa region that Mikhail Saakashvili was appointed governor. This “Varyag”, expelled from his native Georgia, where he is wanted, is an important component of the “external administration” of Ukraine and it was not by chance that he was placed in the Odessa region - the Ukrainian authorities are well aware that this region has always been Russian-speaking, closely connected with Russia . Therefore, for the modern Kiev authorities, the Odessa region and, especially, Odessa itself are considered as unreliable territory, which should be under the greatest control.
Although two years have passed since the tragedy in Odessa, and Ukraine already lacks the radical tension that was observed in the spring of 2014, the Kiev authorities are scared today of the possibility of mass popular unrest in the Russian-speaking regions of the country. Therefore, shortly before the anniversary of the tragic events, additional units and units of the police and the National Guard of Ukraine were transferred to Odessa. The District Administrative Court imposed restrictions on holding mass events from May 2 to May 10 2016. On April 11, a preparatory review of the units of the National Guard of Ukraine with armored vehicles was held on the Kulikovo field 30. For a possible dispersal of demonstrators in the event of unauthorized actions on the streets of the city, the Ukrainian authorities are planning to use dog groups with specially trained dogs. It is known that the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko personally asked the Odessa governor Mikheil Saakashvili about bringing the National Guard troops to Odessa. He also named the number of units of the National Guard and voluntary battalions introduced into Odessa - 5 thousand people. In addition, the governor did not rule out that 2, thousands more, of the National Guard, would additionally arrive.
However, one should not think that when asking the president to send troops to Odessa, Mikhail Saakashvili is guided only by a desire to suppress possible demonstrations of residents of the city dissatisfied with his policies. First of all, we should not forget about the difficult relationship that Saakashvili had with the mayor of Odessa, Gennady Trukhanov - “Poroshenko’s man”, who is a figure that suits both the Kiev authorities and local big business and bureaucracy. Despite the fact that Trukhanov as a politician is known far less than Mikhail Saakashvili, in Odessa he has real possibilities and can “spoil a lot of blood” to an incoming governor.
Some analysts believe that Saakashvili, who has recently been more and more actively speaking not so much on the problems of his subordinate field, as on issues of general Ukrainian politics, is seeking Petro Poroshenko to send him to resign. After that, using the image of the oppositionist who suffered from the actions of the central government, Saakashvili expects to start a political career and achieve a higher position than the governor of the Odessa region. In turn, the president and his entourage do not intend to provide Saakashvili with such a chance - they are waiting for Mishiko himself to be forced to resign as the Odessa governor because of the economic and political collapse in the region, which arose as a result of his “effective management”. In any case, it is beneficial for both parties to maintain a heated situation in Odessa and the Odessa region. And the residents of the city can only hope that someday the time will come when the world will know the truth about the Odessa events 2 of May 2014, and all the leaders of the Kiev regime who are guilty of this will suffer a deserved severe punishment. Eternal memory to all the innocent victims of the victims of the Odessa tragedy 2 of May 2014.
The notable events of November 2013 - January 2014 led to a change in the political situation in Ukraine. If in the western regions of Ukraine the coming to power of nationalist forces cooperating with the United States and the European Union was welcomed by the majority of the population, in the “Russian” regions of Ukraine - Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Dnipropetrovsk - Euromaidan provoked skepticism from at least half of the population. In the regional centers and large cities of these areas, protests began against the new Kiev regime, which, of course, did not reach such a scale as in the Crimea or in the Donbas, but, nevertheless, were very active. In turn, Kiev and the nationalist forces supporting the new regime were extremely frightened by the possibility of not only the Crimea and Donbass being disconnected from Ukraine, but also the “Novorossiysk” regions. The latter would be a complete catastrophe for the Ukrainian state, since it would deprive the country of access to the sea and such industrial centers as Kharkiv or Dnipropetrovsk. Opponents of the Kiev regime demanded the preservation of the status of the Russian language, spoken by the majority of the population of the Novorossiysk regions, the federalization of Ukraine and the decentralization of power with the transfer of greater powers to the regions, the restoration of good neighborly relations with Russia and countering the growing right-wing radicalism and nationalism in Ukrainian society. But official Kiev did not intend to comply with these requirements — its Western patrons did not allow it either.
2 May 2014 near 13.30 in the area of the intersection of Aleksandrovsky Prospekt and Zhukovsky Street began to gather opponents of the regime of anti-Maidan activists. First of all, they were members of the “Odessa squad”. Not without provocations. A young man passing by entered into a verbal altercation with the assembled, and then shot them from an air pistol. The provocateur was detained and handed over to police officers.
Meanwhile, supporters of Euromaid started gathering around 15.00 in the center of Odessa - on Cathedral Square. Among them were football fans from the club "Chernomorets", as well as the club "Metalist" (although its representatives then denied their participation in the events of 2 in May). In addition to the usual activists and football fans, there were also militants of the so-called "Maidan Self-Defense", which was armed with bats and metal chains, many had helmets and shields. The backbone of the militants were activists of the radical organization Right Sector, banned in Russia. Among the militants, far from all were Odessa residents - a large number of participants in subsequent events arrived in the city from other regions of Ukraine — Nikolaev, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, and Kherson regions. According to some news agencies, at least 15 buses arrived in Odessa, delivering several hundred Euromaidan activists. Approximately at 15.30, a column of Anti-Maidan activists marched towards Grecheskaya Square. On the approaches to the square she entered into clashes with activists of Euromaidan. Both warring parties were armed with sticks and stones, while Euromaidan militants began pouring Molotov cocktails. As a result of the clashes, one of the activists of Euromaidan was wounded from a gunshot weapons in the lung and died before the arrival of the ambulance. In turn, supporters of Euromaidan hijacked a fire truck and used it as a ram against a police cordon and barricades, which began to be built by anti-Maidans.
The clashes in the center of Odessa continued, with varying success for about three hours. To 18.30, Euromaidan supporters went to Kulikovo Field Square and defeated the Antimaydan movement camp located on it. Camp tents were burned. Under the pressure of evromaydanovtsev, their opponents were forced to retreat to the building of the House of Trade Unions, where they barricaded themselves. Supporters of Euromaidan began storming the building of the House of Trade Unions, throwing it with petrol bombs and firing windows from firearms and traumatic weapons. The defenders of the House of Trade Unions tried to resist the onslaught of Euro Maidanovites, firing from “injuries” and throwing stones and incendiary bottles at attacking militants.
Meanwhile, the attackers set fire to the central doors of the House of Trade Unions. After that, the fire engulfed the first floor of the building, and then spread to the upper floors. The fire brigade was going to call very slowly, so by the time it arrived the fire had covered the whole building. However, the head of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region, Vladimir Bodelan, claims that the firefighters arrived at the building on time, but the Euromaidan people gathered outside the House of Trade Unions did not let the firefighters through and prevented the firefighters from doing their work. Simultaneously with the arson attack, the Euromaidans stormed the House of Trade Unions managed to break into its premises and seize several corridors. Several burning tires were abandoned in the House of Trade Unions. Employees of the Main Directorate of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region who arrived at the fire managed to remove 350 people from the burning building. The euromaidans, meanwhile, shot at the windows and fire escapes, preventing the people in the building from leaving the burning House of Trade Unions. Those who were lucky enough to escape from the fire trap were beaten in the square. According to the testimony of the head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region, Vladimir Bodelan, euromaidanists so cruelly beat the people who escaped the fire that those who were in the burning building refused to leave it. The fire officers covered the rescued people with their bodies, taking them through the raging crowd in the square.
As a result of the arson of the House of Trade Unions, several dozen people died. According to 14 in May, 2014 confirmed the death of 48 people as a result of clashes on Grecheskaya Street and Kulikovo Field, including 11 people dropped out or jumped out of the windows of the House of Trade Unions. The oldest who died during the riots was 70 years, the youngest - 17 years. 13 people with gunshot wounds, 8 people with burns, 13 people with carbon monoxide poisoning, 7 people with stab wounds, 53 people with blunt injuries, including cranio-brain injuries, were admitted to city hospitals. At the same time, a number of public figures and politicians are convinced that the Ukrainian authorities have hidden the true number of those killed in the House of Trade Unions and during clashes in the squares, so as not to attract even more world attention to these tragic events. So, Odessa regional deputy Vadim Savenko claimed that according to his data, 116 people were killed during the riots. The fact that the real number of the dead exceeds a hundred people, said the famous Ukrainian politician Oleg Tsarev. Rumors spread among residents of the city that in reality there were three times more dead, so the authorities secretly buried the bodies of those killed outside of Odessa. In turn, the pro-Kiev mass media and public activists, of course, denied the possibility of such significant casualties and explained the rumors about the hundreds who were killed by the “information war”, which, in their opinion, is being conducted by pro-Russian forces against the new Ukrainian government.
Nationalist activists and the media claimed that among the dead in the House of Trade Unions there were allegedly a large number of Russian citizens who had specially arrived in Odessa to take part in the riots. However, according to the results of the identification procedures, the Odessa police found out that there were no Russian citizens among those killed in the House of Trade Unions. All the identified dead were residents of Odessa, and among the wounded there were only two non-resident - visitors from Kiev and from Evpatoria. However, even this information did not convince the most zealous nationalists. In particular, the notorious Alexander Turchinov said that the events in Odessa "were ruled from Russia." Forbidden in Russia, the organization “Right Sector” published a material in which the 2 events of May as “a bright page in the national stories". According to the publication on the website of this organization, “paid-up Russian activists, drunks, drug addicts and other lumpens” were present in the House of Trade Unions. However, two days after publication, on May 6, the Right Sector Political Council issued an appeal in which he called 2 May “one of the most tragic days of the short history of independent Ukraine” and demanded that the security forces carefully investigate the events and immediately arrest the responsible persons of the security agencies .
Until now, all the circumstances of the tragedy of 2 on May 2014 of the year of the tragedy remain unclear, and no specific persons responsible for the massacre of civilians in the center of Odessa have been identified. Foreign human rights organizations are also interested in the tragedy in Odessa. In particular, the American United National Anti-War Coalition calls on the European Parliament to investigate the tragic events in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa. The same organization collected signatures on a petition to the United Nations calling for an investigation into the death of a large number of people in peacetime. At the same time, the American leadership uses the events in Odessa as an additional means of pressure on the Kiev government. Thus, the US State Department stated that the inability to investigate the tragic events in Odessa entails further preservation of the atmosphere of lawlessness in the Ukrainian state. At the same time, it was in the Odessa region that Mikhail Saakashvili was appointed governor. This “Varyag”, expelled from his native Georgia, where he is wanted, is an important component of the “external administration” of Ukraine and it was not by chance that he was placed in the Odessa region - the Ukrainian authorities are well aware that this region has always been Russian-speaking, closely connected with Russia . Therefore, for the modern Kiev authorities, the Odessa region and, especially, Odessa itself are considered as unreliable territory, which should be under the greatest control.
Although two years have passed since the tragedy in Odessa, and Ukraine already lacks the radical tension that was observed in the spring of 2014, the Kiev authorities are scared today of the possibility of mass popular unrest in the Russian-speaking regions of the country. Therefore, shortly before the anniversary of the tragic events, additional units and units of the police and the National Guard of Ukraine were transferred to Odessa. The District Administrative Court imposed restrictions on holding mass events from May 2 to May 10 2016. On April 11, a preparatory review of the units of the National Guard of Ukraine with armored vehicles was held on the Kulikovo field 30. For a possible dispersal of demonstrators in the event of unauthorized actions on the streets of the city, the Ukrainian authorities are planning to use dog groups with specially trained dogs. It is known that the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko personally asked the Odessa governor Mikheil Saakashvili about bringing the National Guard troops to Odessa. He also named the number of units of the National Guard and voluntary battalions introduced into Odessa - 5 thousand people. In addition, the governor did not rule out that 2, thousands more, of the National Guard, would additionally arrive.
However, one should not think that when asking the president to send troops to Odessa, Mikhail Saakashvili is guided only by a desire to suppress possible demonstrations of residents of the city dissatisfied with his policies. First of all, we should not forget about the difficult relationship that Saakashvili had with the mayor of Odessa, Gennady Trukhanov - “Poroshenko’s man”, who is a figure that suits both the Kiev authorities and local big business and bureaucracy. Despite the fact that Trukhanov as a politician is known far less than Mikhail Saakashvili, in Odessa he has real possibilities and can “spoil a lot of blood” to an incoming governor.
Some analysts believe that Saakashvili, who has recently been more and more actively speaking not so much on the problems of his subordinate field, as on issues of general Ukrainian politics, is seeking Petro Poroshenko to send him to resign. After that, using the image of the oppositionist who suffered from the actions of the central government, Saakashvili expects to start a political career and achieve a higher position than the governor of the Odessa region. In turn, the president and his entourage do not intend to provide Saakashvili with such a chance - they are waiting for Mishiko himself to be forced to resign as the Odessa governor because of the economic and political collapse in the region, which arose as a result of his “effective management”. In any case, it is beneficial for both parties to maintain a heated situation in Odessa and the Odessa region. And the residents of the city can only hope that someday the time will come when the world will know the truth about the Odessa events 2 of May 2014, and all the leaders of the Kiev regime who are guilty of this will suffer a deserved severe punishment. Eternal memory to all the innocent victims of the victims of the Odessa tragedy 2 of May 2014.
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