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Russian diplomat comments on statement regarding training of Maidan snipers in Poland

A member of the Parliament of Europe has made a statement saying snipers, who took part in Kiev’s tragic rallies, allegedly underwent training in Poland
Maidan events in February 2014 ITAR-TASS/Yevgeny Maloletka
Maidan events in February 2014
© ITAR-TASS/Yevgeny Maloletka

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. A recent statement made by a member of the Parliament of Europe that snipers, who took part in Kiev’s tragic rallies, allegedly underwent training in Poland speaks for the fact that the truth about the so-called Maidan protests makes its way out, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

"A Polish member of the Parliament of Europe has acknowledged that the snipers in Maidan protests were trained in Poland and not in Russia," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, wrote on his Twitter account.

"The truth makes its way out," the Russian diplomat Tweeted.

"The Ukrainian authorities are afraid of an honest investigation into the Maidan events," Dolgov said. "It [the investigation] would have proved that the western representatives were handing out there not pastries only."

Polish member of the Parliament of Europe Janusz Korwin-Mikke said on Sunday in an interview with Polish news website Wirtualna Polska that snipers, who killed dozens of people during anti-government protests early last year on the Maidan Square in the Ukrainian capital, were trained in Poland.

"I sit in the EU Parliament next to Mr. Urmas Paetz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia who acknowledged in a telephone conversation with Baroness Catherine Ashton that it was "our people" who shot on the Maidan, and not [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych’s people, or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s people. Trained by us, in Western countries," Korwin-Mikke, who is also a Polish presidential candidate, was quoted by Poland’s sixth-largest web portal as saying.

"The snipers were also trained in Poland. Even Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung already wrote, who was really shooting on the Maidan. The terrorists had shot 40 demonstrators and 20 police officers in order to provoke riots. The truth is finally coming out," the Polish politician said.

Deep crisis embraced Ukraine at the end of 2013, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych suspended the signing of an association agreement with the European Union. The move triggered mass riots killing dozens of people and eventually leading to a coup  in February 2014.

During the fierce clashes between pro-EU demonstrators and the then-authorities unidentified snipers were shooting at the crowds as well as at law enforcers. Yanukovych fled the country citing security concerns, and new people seized the power in the country.