16 March 2014, 01:17
Yatsenyuk takes Scythian gold to US as money-back guarantee
Photo: AFP
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Verkhovna Rada-appointed Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk secretly took Scythian gold to the US. This sensational news was circulated through social networks by Director of Moscow’s Lev Gumilev Centre Pavel Zarifullin.
Zarifullin is convinced that during his recent visit to the US, acting Ukrainian prime minister took along $20bln worth of national cultural values.
Referring to sources that he does not reveal, the author writes that these values might become guarantees for an International Monetary Fund’s loan.
To check the authenticity of this information, historians are urging the new Ukrainian authorities to draw up an open inventory in Kiev museums’ depots. The Scythian gold is not so much valued as a precious metal as a historical relic.
Authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea may declare the leaders of the Maidan revolution in Kiev Vitaly Klitschko, Arseny Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnybok personae non grata as carriers of far-right extremist nationalistic ideology, the speaker of the Crimean legislature, the Supreme Council, said Thursday.
The Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has launched a criminal inquiry into the activities of Dmitry Yarosh, the 'Right Sector' radical organization leader, and of Dmitry Korchinsky, the chief of the 'Brotherhood' group, which forms part of the 'Right Sector', according to Saturday's report by the Crimean news agency.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Council of Crimea banned the activities of the 'Freedom' nationalist party and the 'Right Sector' group in Crimea, since these are known for active involvement in the recent riots in Kiev.
The ban also extends to the organizations that form part of the 'Right Sector', namely 'Trizub', or Trident, which is the so-called "revived UNA-UNSO", the 'Patriot of Ukraine', the 'Carpathian Host', the Korchinsky-led 'Brotherhood' and other groups.
The investigation was prompted by the effort of the organizations in question to spread war propaganda, as well as by the calls for killing people and destroying their property in Crimea.
Russia earlier charged Yarosh in absentia with calling for terrorism and put him on the international wanted list after he asked the Chechen terrorist chief Doku Umarov for support via a social networking service.
On February 22nd Ukraine saw a change of power with signs of a state coup. The Supreme Rada removed President Yanukovych from power, changed the constitution, made speaker Alexander Turhinov acting President and set the next presidential election for May 25.
Some regions in the east and south of Ukraine, as well as Crimea refused to recognize the legitimacy of Rada decisions and decided, for their part, to hold referendums on the future of their own regions. The referendum in Crimea is due on March 16.
Russia has launched criminal case against the leader of Ukraine's Svoboda party, Oleh Tyagnybok, and some members of Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian People's Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO), accusing them of organizing an armed gang, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin has said on Friday.
Markin said Tyagnybok supported Chechen separatists in the 1990s.
"Depending on the role of each of them, they are suspected of crimes punishable under Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - 'formation of a stable armed group (gang) with the objective of assaults, leadership of such a group (gang), and participation in assaults committed by it,'" Markin said.
He said investigators of a battle in Chechnya between the 76th Pskov Airborne Division and Chechen separatist forces led by Shamil Basayev and Khattab had obtained evidence that the separatists who fought Russian troops in 1994-1995 included a unit made up of UNA-UNSO members.
Markin said the unit had been led by brothers Oleh and Andriy Tyagnybok, Ihor Mazur, Valery Bobrovych, Dmytro Korchynsky, Dmytry Yarosh, Volodymyr Mamalyha, and others who had not been identified. The spokesman said the Investigative Committee's North Caucasus branch had collected enough evidence to charge them and issue arrest warrants for them.
