Ukrainian Far-Right Leader Killed

A picture made available on 25 March 2014 shows Aleksandr Muzychko, the ultra-right militant leader in Ukraine, at the West-Ukrainian city of Rivne, Ukraine, 28 February 2014, Photo by EPA/BGNES

Oleksandr Muzychko, a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist leader, died after a special forces operation.

Officials announced Tuesday that Muzychko, alsko known as Sashko Bily, was shot dead in a cafe in the town of Rivne, Western Ukraine, the BBC has reported.

He was a leader of the Right Sector, a far-right group which actively took part in anti-government protests and gave ground to claims of violence, fascism and anti-Semitism voiced by those opposing shift of power in the country.

Moscow is among the staunchest critics of the organization, seeing it as posing threat to Ukraine's large ethnic Russian minority. Interior Ministry officials explained Muzychko died short after police launched the raid to arrest him and other ultra-nationalists in the cafe. He opened fire at security forces and tried to flee.

"Sashko Bily" and his fellow far-right members were described as a "criminal gang" by Ukrainian authorities.

Rivne's Right Sector structures have vowed revenge, issuing threats to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

A Ukrainian MP has however presented another version of events, declaring no police operation had been carried out, and Muzychko was dragged into a car, his body being found later on.Website Lenta.ru, citing earlier reports, suggested Muzychko was killed near his home.

Apart from Ukraine, which earlier condemned acts committed by Muzychko, Moscow had issued an arrest warrant for him over atrocities against Russian soldiers in Chechnya in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine's capital Kiev, a cabinet reshuffle took place on Tuesday, as Parliament accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh. Tenyukh leaves the goverment after being accused of mishandling Russia's threat to Ukraine posed by the military takeover of Crimea. He offered to leave voluntarily, but Parliament firstly declined his request.

Gen Mykhaylo Koval, who has served in Ukraine's Border Service, has now taken his portfolio.

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