Situationen i Ukraina just nu.

Krashevsky believes that the politically-loaded investigation on the Kiev snipers, and the arrest of the Berkut officers are part of a campaign “to turn them and the rest of the law enforcement agencies into the enemy."

"There was an info war, a massive one, from the Western and Ukrainian media,” he stressed.

According to the veteran, the Ukrainians were only shown images where “weaponless people were falling down after being shot at – allegedly by the interior ministry servicemen. But it was just a montage, which was put together and accompanied by a relevant commentary. It was nothing more. But that was enough for our people.”

Ruslan Dudkin the self-defense group chief, says he knows, because he went.

"The people on the Maidan would soil and sleep and eat in the same place, it was worse than tramps," Dudkin said. "It was like cockroaches who are prepared to live anywhere."

In Simferopol, it's apparently all about order and not so much about law.

"If a violent attack starts than the law enforcement agencies can't do much, the most they can do is go in and find out what's going on," Dudkin said. "But we do things a bit differently.

They do not use weapons, just brute force, unlike their next door neighbors, who use both.

The Berkut riot police who were so hated by the protesters on the Maidan are celebrated as heroes in Crimea. They've been disbanded in the rest of the country, but here they're still fully operational. And they enjoy pretty close relations with the local self-defense militia.

"Can we speak to your commander?" CNN reporter Diana Magnay said.

Vladimir Krashevsky was also in Kiev at Berkut headquarters.

"The Maidan was a provocation from start to finish." Krashevsky said. "There was no democracy, and no real indignation from the people. It was a paid for event."

"Do you seriously believe that there is a danger that Ukraine will be taken over by neo-Nazis and fascists?" Magnay said.

"Yes," Krashevsky said. "I do."

They take a tour of the Berkut headquarters and walk past snipers and sandbags, freshly laid in case of attack, on their way out.

"So Putin is hanging here because this is Russian soil in your opinion?" Magnay said.

"Da," Krashevsky said.

"Yes," Magnay said.

Putin is the main man at the camp next door, also. In Crimea, it's all about who punches the hardest.

Actions of the so-called "titushky" and other gang formations that attacked unarmed protesters on February 18-20 this year were commanded by head of Kontakt Media-Holding Viktor Zubrytsky, Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov said, reporting on the results of an inquiry.

"The inquiry established there were liaisons between ex-interior minister of Ukraine [Vitaliy] Zakharchenko with a certain Mr. [Viktor] Zubrytsky, who leads Kontakt [Contact] media holding. In fact, this was he [Zubrytsky] that coordinated the actions of the titushky and related gangs, who assisted the interior agencies in repression against protesters during these times," Avakov said on Thursday at a press conference on preliminary results of the investigation into the mass killings in Kyiv downtown on February 18-20, 2014.

In particular, he said that Zubrytsky coordinated the activities of all groups, starting from the Anti maidan and finishing with those groups, who acted near Mykhailivska Square, Mariyinsky Park, Kriposny Alley "in the hottest moments of February 19-20", in the previous months as well.

Avakov said that the same person also coordinated all financial issues.

Besides, Zubrytsky was dealing with the preparation of disinformation for the media and "dirty tricks against protesters."

Darth Vader's run for president of Ukraine ended ingloriously Thursday when election officials said the man posing as the iconic movie villain might actually be an electrician named Viktor Shevchenko.

A man dressed up as the dark force in the Star War movies had showed up at the Kiev presidential election registration office Saturday and showed a passport with the name Darth Vader printed in Ukrainian.

It took 15 election officials nearly a week to figure out that the man in the black plastic costume was actually a Kiev native who was born in 1956 and now worked as an electrician at the National University of Food Technologies.

While his passport carried the name Darth Vader, tax documents and just about every other place the election officials looked identified him as Viktor Shevchenko.

"This might look like an innocent joke. But this is no laughing matter," Central Election Commission member Igor Zhydenko fumed.

"Someone was trying to turn the presidential election of Ukraine into a farce."

But the Sith Lord did not lose spirit and quickly announced his ambition to succeed President Vladimir Putin in Russia when that election rolls around in 2018 .

He had paid a hefty 2.5-million-hryvnia ($225,000, 165,000 euro) fee and signed up as a candidate representing the Ukrainian Internet Party (UIP) -- a group officially registered in 2010.

The ultimatum and the didactic tone of Russian statements calling for “federalization” of Ukraine demonstrate that, as the real aggressor, Russia does not accept any control over its own behavior.

Under the barrels of its machine guns, this aggressor demands only one thing — the complete capitulation of Ukraine, its dismemberment, and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood. Russia’s proposals for federalization, a second official language, and referendums are viewed in Ukraine as nothing less than proof of Russia’s aggression.

We sincerely regret that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had to voice them.
We would like to propose to the Russian side that before issuing ultimatums to a sovereign and independent state, it turn its attention to the disastrous conditions and complete powerlessness of its own national minorities, including the Ukrainian one.

Why does not Russia give substance to the federalism which, incidentally, is in its official name and which remains a meaningless, declarative concept?

Why not give additional powers to the national subjects of the federation, whose development is being suppressed today as harshly as during the tsarist and Soviet times? Why not introduce other official languages aside from Russian — languages spoken by millions of Russian citizens? Why not hold referendums on broad autonomy and, if necessary, the independence of the subjects of the Russian Federation?

We understand these questions are purely rhetorical. Even their very thought will be harshly repressed. And any attempts to realize them — as was the case in North Caucasus — will be drowned in blood.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed in Russia from those times when the great Taras Shevchenko wrote “From Moldavia to Finland, everything in every language is silent.

Do not attempt to teach others. Better bring order to your own country. You have plenty of problems.”