Journalist Oles Buzina Killed in Kyiv

Journalist Oles Buzina was shot from a car with foreign license plates on Degtyarivska Street in Kyiv.

Anton Gerashchenko, Adviser to the Interior Minister, wrote on his Facebook page that Buzina was murdered near house number 58 on Degtyarivska Street by someone in a dark blue Ford Focus.

According to Gerashchenko, the license plates on the car were Latvian or Belarusian, but certainly not Ukrainian. As reported by Bogdan Yovzhenko in the Facebook group “Shevchenkivska People’s Self-Defense of Kyiv,” the license plate number was BL8108W.

“We ask all Kyiv drivers to immediately call the police if you see a moving or standing car that fits the description,” wrote Gerashchenko.

He also suggested that this was a part of a liquidation of people who are Anti-Maidan witnesses.

“Everyone who was involved in the organization and financing of Anti-Maidan, or other unlawful acts against Maidan, and feels a threat to their life, please contact law enforcement agencies, so as not to follow the path of Kalashnikov and Buzina,” said Gerashchenko.

Buzina was a candidate for People’s Deputy of Ukraine in the Kyiv city majoritarian electoral district 223 from the “Russian Bloc.” He was the author of such pieces as “The Resurrection of Little Russia,” “The Ghoul Taras Shevchenko,” “Bring Back Harems to Women,” and others. In January 2015, he was appointed chief editor of the newspaper “Today,” but resigned in March because, according to him, he was being censored. His colleagues claimed that he “did not find a common language with the team.”

Earlier, on April 15th, Oleh Kalashnikov, politician and a member of the Party of Regions, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of V convocation, was assassinated in his house in the Vinogradar neighborhood of Kyiv. His political activities, in particular related to the organization and financing of Anti-Maidan in Mariinsky Park seemed to be related. 

Previously, under obscure circumstances, there have been several suicides by members of the Party of Regions. This includes the former People’s Deputy Mykhailo Chechetov and the former head of the Zaporizhzhya regional administration, Oleksandr Peklushenko. According to Gerashchenko, Peklushenko could have committed suicide because of his unwillingness to take responsibility for the dispersal of Zaporizhzhya Euromaidan.