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Ukraine to Disarm Illegally Armed Groups After Kiev Shooting

© RIA Novosti . Grigoriy Vasilenko / Go to the mediabankUkraine to Disarm Illegally Armed Groups After Kiev Shooting
Ukraine to Disarm Illegally Armed Groups After Kiev Shooting - Sputnik International
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Ukraine's parliament has ordered the immediate disarming of illegally armed groups in the country following a fatal shooting Monday on the city's main square believed to have involved a political activist of the Right Sector movement.

KIEV, April 1 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's parliament has ordered the immediate disarming of illegally armed groups in the country following a fatal shooting Monday on the city's main square believed to have involved a political activist of the Right Sector movement.

"In line with the extreme sociopolitical situation in the country, the escalation of crime and systematic provocations from foreign citizens in southeastern Ukraine and Kiev, the Verkhovna Rada orders the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Special Services to immediately disarm the illegal groups," reads the resolution, authored by Serhiy Sobolev, the leader of the Batkivschyna (Fatherland) faction on the parliament.

The legislature passed the measure by 36 votes over the necessary 220.

"Ukrainians are demanding order," the country's parliament-appointed President Oleksandr Turchynov said prior to the vote. He emphasized that people who carry arms while not working with the security services or the national guard should be regarded as saboteurs.

The country's Interior Ministry declared a month of volunteer surrender of firearms in March, extended on Monday for another month. Kiev believes that disarming Ukrainians will help to halt the threat of violence that has risen with the formation of self-defense groups.

On Monday a member of the Right Sector ultra-nationalistic movement opened fire near Kiev's Dnepr Hotel, which had been reported to house the group's headquarters.  Three people, including a senior official in the Kiev city administration, were injured in the incident.

According to the Interior Ministry, the shooter wanted to bring alcoholic drinks onto the square. Afterwards, he tried to hide in a nearby restaurant, but was soon arrested. Police investigating the case have found several weapons in the hotel previously occupied by the group. Right Sector activists left the hotel under police escort following the shooting, Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interim Minister of Internal Affairs, announced on Tuesday.

Right Sector played a significant role beginning in late November at the Euromaidan protests in Kiev. It is a major ally of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party led by Oleh Tyahnybok, a member of the new Ukrainian government.

Right Sector fighters became notorious for using clubs, petrol bombs, and firearms against Ukrainian police and for wearing Nazi insignia. Russia put the leader of Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, on an international wanted list and charged him with inciting terrorism after he urged Chechen warlord Doku Umarov to launch terrorist attacks on Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.

Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification of Crimea with Russia.

Updated with new title, parliament information    

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