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Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Міністерство внутрішніх справ України, Ministerstvo vnutrishnykh sprav Ukrayiny, MVS) is the national police authority of Ukraine. It is a centralized agency headed by a Minister of Internal Affairs (currently Vasiliy Tsushko) who is directly subordinate to the President of Ukraine, although the Minister is a formal member of the Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers.
The generic term for the Ukrainian police (and for police in most of post-Soviet countries) is militsiya.
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Ukrainian militsiya has a significant record of law violation and human rights abuse. The most notorious episode of this record is the agency's involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000. Soon after Gongadze's disappearance, recordings of Major Melnychenko were revealed. A fragment of the recorded conversations portrayed MVS Minister Kravchenko promising President Kuchma to "take care" of the oppositional journalist. According to the recordings, Kravchenko told Kuchma that he controls a special group of high-class detectives "without any moral, and ready to do everything", able to fulfill such a task.
Later, the decapitated and disfigured body of Gongadze was found in the forest, and a years-lasting investigation started. In 2005, soon after Orange Revolution, the first results of the case appeared. Three members of the MVS detective squad were charged with abduction and murder of Gongadze. The international search warrant is issued for their chief, General Oleksiy Pukach, supposedly hiding abroad. In March 2005, ex-Minister Kravchenko, the main participant of the case, was found shot in the head (supposedly by himself). No other charges or suspicions in the case raised so far.
In the recordings of Melnychenko, the hitmen group was called "orly" Ukrainian: орли (literally "eagles") by the Minister. (Orly here is not a proper name, but a traditional Russian common name for the brave and skillful soldiers). Since then, a phrase "Orly of Kravchenko" became the symbol of lawlessness and brutality in the Ukrainian law enforcement.
- Further information: The role of Ukrainian intelligence and security agencies in the Orange Revolution
During the 2004 election and Orange Revolution, the MVS didn't dare to crack down on the peaceful opposition protests, although media sources claim that respective orders were given to its anti-riot units by senior commanders and leaders of the country. Minor clashes between protesters and the Berkut happened in the city of Chernihiv, but both sides agreed they were incidental and provoked by unknown forces. The opposition also accused the militsiya of involvement in election fraud attempts that occurred in polling stations.
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In February 2005, as part of the post-election democratic changes, President Viktor Yushchenko appointed Yuriy Lutsenko as new Minister of Internal Affairs. Unlike his predecessors, Lutsenko is a career politician and has never served in the militsiya or other law enforcement agency. Moreover, as one of the opposition former opposition Socialist Party of Ukraine main figures, Lutsenko participated in several protest campaigns and conflicts with the militsiya. The new minister demanded resignations from those militsioners involved in racketeering. Thus, a significant step has been made towards the establishment of civil control over the Ukrainian police.
In January 2006, Minister Lutsenko admitted that MVS is in possession of the evidence that would allow to question and charge ex-President Leonid Kuchma in a privatization wrongdoing case, if only MVS had the authority for starting such a case autonomously.
On December, 1, 2006, Verkhovna Rada dismissed Yuriy Lutsenko and appointed Vasiliy Tsushko as new Minister of Internal Affairs.
- How Top Spies in Ukraine Changed the Nation’s Path by K.J.Chivers of New York Times
- How the Gongadze Case Has Been Investigated (June 2005 Ukrayinska Pravda article on the history of the Gongadze Case investigation) (Ukrainian)
- The Key Witness in the Gongadze Case Dead (March 2005 Ukrayinska Pravda article on the death of Kravchenko, analysing also his role in Gongadze case - includes fragments of the Melnychenko recordings) (Ukrainian)
