Nikolai Kozitsyn
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/news/12187.html]
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INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11/11/east-ukraine-separatists-patchwork-fiefdoms-run-by-rowdy-warlords/
East
Ukraine's separatists: a patchwork of fiefdoms run by rowdy warlords
Published November 11, 2014
PEREVALSK, Ukraine –
They
don't call Nikolai Kozitsyn "Daddy" for nothing. In this rebel-held
eastern Ukrainian town, the mustachioed Cossack lords it over the locals and
pays little heed to the bosses of the breakaway movement.
Patches of Ukraine's depressed industrial
basin in the east — in the throes of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency — have
fallen under the control of such warlords, who run towns as their personal
fiefdoms.
Accountable seemingly to nobody, except
perhaps Russia, these domains are a further destabilizing element in a
six-month conflict that has left more than 4,000 dead and displaced a million.
Kozitsyn, a stocky 58-year old Russian who
says he has fighting experience in Yugoslavia and in several conflicts across
the former Soviet Union, rules over the town of Perevalsk with a stern hand.
Capital punishment is a necessary deterrent to crime in unruly times, Kozitsyn
told The Associated Press in an interview at his headquarters, situated in a
gloomy 1950s neo-classical building known as the House of Culture.
"It has had a positive
effect,"
he said. "We have no marauding, no burglaries or
car-jacking."
But it's not clear whether such tough talk is
mere bravado, for Kozitsyn demurs when pressed on whether any executions have
actually been carried out. "People here have a quiet and simple
life," he said, when pressed on the matter.
Wooden ammunition crates are stacked up in
front of the windows of Kozitsyn's sparse office. Behind him hang portraits of
Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Kremlin chief of staff Vladislav
Surkov — renowned for being the eminence grise of the Moscow leadership.
Outside, four parked tanks carry Russian and
rebel flags. Burly Cossacks with wind-burned faces wearing black-and-red
astrakhan hats fix Ukrainian military hardware seized in fighting. In the lobby
of the House of Culture, an elderly female barber shaves and gives haircuts to
a line of Cossacks — members of a semi-military group which traditionally
guarded the far-flung outposts of the Russian empire — waiting to pay court to
a commander they affectionately call Batya, or Daddy.
Kozitsyn imposed his authority quickly in the
area.
Nikolai Kozitsyn
took control of the small city of Perevalsk, east Ukraine, in July. He walked
through its streets on Nov. 15, 2014.Dmitry Beliakov for Al Jazeera America
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As armed pro-Russian separatists were seizing
one town after another in eastern Ukraine, groups of Cossacks in early May crossed
from southern Russia to occupy territories along the border. They claimed they
did so to defend the interests of the native Russian-speaking population.
"I'm fighting for this people
and together with this people," said Kozistyn, "defending
our rights to own this territory and the riches with which our Lord and
forefathers endowed us."
Kozitsyn, who leads a Cossack unit calling
itself the Great Don Army, claims to rule over four-fifths of the
rebel-controlled section of the Luhansk region, with thousands of men under his
command. Rival rebels disagree.
On the other side of the highway running by
Perevalsk, in the town of Alchevsk, native son Alexei Mozgovoi runs things in
similarly uncompromising and independent fashion. Mozgovoi has attracted
controversy for his openness to dialogue with pro-Ukraine unity supporters —
and his ruthless stance on law and order.
At the end of October, two alleged rapists
stood trial in Alchevsk before a "people's court" presided over by
Mozgovoi and two other rebel commanders. Amid cries of "execution,"
the 300-strong audience — and jury — gave a show of hands that condemned one of
the men to death. They spared the other man the death penalty to faint ripples
of applause.
Mozgovoi associate Yuri Shevchenko said this
was justice in its purest form.
"We gathered and presented the
evidence for the people to pass judgment," Shevchenko said. "What we are saying is: 'We are giving you the right to
judge.'"
The rebels argue that public trials for
heinous crimes — they claimed that one alleged rape victims was 12 years old —
would serve as a deterrent. The condemned man remains in custody and it is
unclear his jailers plan go through with execution.
In extolling the virtues of the people's
court, Mozgovoi condemned Ukrainian courts as "soaked with (corruption)
like a cake with syrup."
Nothing quite like this form of crowd justice
has been sanctioned anywhere else in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's
Republic, underscoring the fragmented nature of the rebel command.
The leaders in Perevalsk and Alchevsk try to
refrain from excessively harsh criticism of their nominal superiors in Luhansk,
but their disdain is transparent.
Mozgovoi said he would rather work with
Ukrainian officials, some of whom he said are good at what they do, rather than
promote the flag-waving rebel commanders "who shout the loudest."
That's a surprisingly candid statement that
flies in the face of the separatist orthodoxy, which has it that Kiev is in the
grip of irredeemable fascists.
Top figures in the breakaway governments are
a motley group of local men with opaque histories. Many have links to the
political party of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who had his support base
in the east. Yanukovych was overthrown in February after months of often bloody
protests that were sparked by his government's decision to favor ties with
Russia over Europe.
The current crisis was ostensibly sparked by
fears that Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine would be oppressed by a
government that Russian state media has cast as extremist nationalists.
Mozgovoi readily concedes the self-proclaimed
Luhansk People's Republic has done little to improve the lot of people under
their rule, and that the corruption of the previous regime is still going
strong.
"In the past six months," he said,
"our government has achieved nothing."
Perevalsk and Alchevsk both participated in a
contentious vote in early November to elect separatist deputies and leaders,
but it is evident the outcome of the poll means little on the ground.
Kozitsyn is
escorted by bodyguards. Dmitry Beliakov for Al Jazeera America
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Kozitsyn, in Perevalsk, said his authority
came from a higher power.
"We are an independent organization and
we don't depend on anyone," he said. "I'm answerable only to
President Putin and our Lord."
Don Cossack Insignia
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Sentenced
to Death by a Crowd: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 86)
Published
on Nov 12, 2014
During the
war, various areas of eastern Ukraine under separatist control have been under
the jurisdiction of field commanders, who run these areas under their own laws.
VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky traveled to Alchevsk in the Luhansk region to interview Alexei Mozgovoi, who's been running a "people's court" in which people are tried for various crimes, from rape to theft, with residents acting as the jury.
Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News
Follow @simonostrovsky on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SimonOstrovsky
Click to watch "The Firefighters of Donetsk: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 85)" - http://bit.ly/1qCEyMH
Check out "Military Convoys on the Move in Rebel-Held East Ukraine as Donetsk Fighting Intensifies" - http://bit.ly/1wcgj9L
Click to watch "The Donetsk People's Republic" - http://bit.ly/1wLO6vN
Check out the VICE News beta for more: http://vicenews.com
Follow VICE News here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicenews
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VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky traveled to Alchevsk in the Luhansk region to interview Alexei Mozgovoi, who's been running a "people's court" in which people are tried for various crimes, from rape to theft, with residents acting as the jury.
Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News
Follow @simonostrovsky on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SimonOstrovsky
Click to watch "The Firefighters of Donetsk: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 85)" - http://bit.ly/1qCEyMH
Check out "Military Convoys on the Move in Rebel-Held East Ukraine as Donetsk Fighting Intensifies" - http://bit.ly/1wcgj9L
Click to watch "The Donetsk People's Republic" - http://bit.ly/1wLO6vN
Check out the VICE News beta for more: http://vicenews.com
Follow VICE News here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicenews
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicenews
Tumblr: http://vicenews.tumblr.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/vicenews
VIDEO
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV70uDYUqlc
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