Conversation

#Russia will today spin the topic of 2 May 2014 #Odessa tragedy, when 46 members of pro-Russian militia died in a fire. What they will not be spinning are these facts:

• the first people killed on that day were pro-Ukrainian protesters, hours before the fire
• the pro-Russian militia barricaded themselves in Unions House with dozens of Molotov cocktails stored on the stairway
• both sides were throwing things at each other, including the petrol bombs
• the fire started on the stairway inside the building and due to the presence of the Russians’ own petrol bombs it immediately went out of control

Pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian journalists in Odessa jointly conducted an investigation, in addition to the official investigation. All evidence and conclusions can be found here:

https://2mayodessa.org

What Russia will never tell you is however what happened before and after the fire:

• the violent clashes started when pro-Russian activist Vitaly Budko (“Botsman”) started firing live rounds at Ukrainian protesters, two people died from gunshots
• Budko was firing from behind police cordon led by Odessa police commander Dmitry Fuchedzhy, literally from behind his back
• immediately after 48 people died on that day Budko and Fuchedzhy escaped… to Russia
• one reason why so many people died in the unions house fire was that the decision to send fire brigade was arbitrarily blocked by head of emergency services, Vladimir Bodelan
• guess what Bodelan did after the fire? yes, he also escaped to Russia

Russia for the last 10 years has been blaming #Ukraine for “killing 46 pro-Russian protesters”, but at the same time it has also offered shelter for the people most involved in the killing and refused their extradition, prosecution or even interviewing. As a matter of fact, Russia has granted Bodelan a well-paid job in the occupied Crimea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Odesa_clashes

There’s one more important historic context: similar events unrolled in all Ukraine, including Kharkiv and other towns. Thanks to intercepts of calls between Sergey Glazyev, Russian president’s administration coordinator, and pro-Russian activists in Ukraine (so called “Glazyev tapes”) we now know that escalation of the protests and violence was actually their goal.

https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_the_glazyev_tapes_getting_to_the_root_of_the_conflict_in_7165/