Ukrainian center attacked in Moscow (10/28/01)

Ukrainian center attacked in Moscow

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Unidentified assailants heaved Molotov cocktails at the Ukrainian Cultural Center (UCC) in Moscow in the wee hours of October 21 in what appears to have been an anti-Ukrainian attack.

The perpetrators left leaflets that stated the attack was in response to the destruction of the Sibir Airlines TU-154 jet that resulted in the death of all 78 people on board and for "the ongoing problems associated with the city of Sevastopol."

The authors of the leaflets, which were scattered before the building located on historic Arbat Street in the heart of Moscow, warned that Ukrainian leaders would be held accountable. No organization has claimed responsibility for the act.

The director of the UCC, Volodymyr Melnychenko, told The Weekly the fire was quickly extinguished by security guards on duty. The only apparent damage was to the building's façade, which was scorched by the flames. The interior of the building was not affected, and no one was injured in the incident, which Mr. Melnychenko said occurred at 2 a.m. and involved two young men, whom witnesses identified as being between the ages of 17 and 27. Mr. Melnychenko said he did not know who could have perpetrated such an attack.

"I really don't have an idea. It's difficult to figure out," said Mr. Melnychenko. "It may have been simple hooliganism or someone may be behind it."

However, according to Interfax-Ukraine, several Russian newspapers speculated the following day that the incident could have been committed either by the National Bolshevik Party or the Union of Communist Youth of Russia.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on October 22 expressing concern over the incident and demanding that the perpetrators of the act be brought to justice. The statement called on Russia to take action to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

The Kyiv newspaper Holos Ukrainy, which is an organ of the Verkhovna Rada, reported that it believed the incident was being downplayed in Moscow and even suggested that the Russian government had issued a gag order on the matter. Holos Ukrainy said that Russian government and law enforcement officials were refusing to comment, as were Ukrainian diplomats in the Russian capital.

It further explained that the normally very "yellow" Moscow press had all but ignored the controversial story, although it routinely accents all types of possible points of friction between Russia and Ukraine. The Holos Ukrainy story also noted that the UCC building was quickly scrubbed clean by Moscow government workers the very next day.

UCC Director Melnychenko, however, said he saw no news blackout and no attempt to sweep the matter under the rug. He explained that Russian law enforcement investigators had arrived on the scene quickly and began an investigation immediately, and that he had seen news reports in various Moscow newspapers and on television.

Although relations between Moscow and Kyiv have grown warmer in the last year, there still are groups in both cities - mostly remnants of old Soviet and Communist Party structures - that have overtly agitated for a return of Ukraine to the fold of Moscow. One of the several unhealed wounds resulting from Ukraine's declaration of independence is the status of Crimea, whose population is predominantly Russian, and the port city of Sevastopol, which is located on the peninsula. Sevastopol, a "hero city" of the now-defunct Soviet Union, was once the center of the empire's mighty Black Sea Fleet and its point of access to the Mediterranean Sea. Today it remains the home of Russia's much-diminished fleet of the same name.

The recent crisis over the downing of a Russian TU-154 passenger jet by an errant Ukrainian missile, which resulted in the deaths of all 78 aboard, has recharged some of the hostile feeling. Many Russians were especially peeved by Ukraine's refusal early on to admit that the jet was indeed destroyed by one of its missiles.

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