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Thread about the OUN-B affiliated "Youth Nationalist Congress" (MNK), the anti-Zelensky "Protect Ukraine" (#ЗахистиУкраїну) campaign, and the Ukrainian nationalist diaspora lobby — seeds of a new far-right party, the third Maidan, and/or a coup attempt against President Zelensky? 
The OUN-B (rather, the "Foreign Units of the OUN," ZChOUN, est. 1946) created the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (CUN) in 1992, which spawned a youth wing (Youth Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, YCUN, est. 1998) that formed the Youth Nationalist Congress (MNK) in 2001.
According to (a Google Translation of) the Youth Nationalist Congress (MNK) website, the group "represents the views of the OUN-B in the youth environment... Since 2008, the MNK has been implementing projects in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine..."
For the last 10 years, the 1st head of the MNK (2001-02) Viktor Rog, a former CUN leader (1998-2000), has been the editor in chief of the OUN-B's weekly "Way of Victory." The 2nd MNK chairman (2002-06) Oleg Medunytsia is now a Member of Parliament with the People's Front party.
In 2008, the 3rd MNK head Ilyas Yaroslav became an "assistant-consultant" of then-People's Front MP, now-Chairman of Parliament Andriy Parubiy. Today the 4th & 5th MNK chairs lead the "Free People" (Vilny Liudy) network—set up by MNK in 2013—which also sponsors "Protect Ukraine."
OUN-B affiliated Youth Nationalist Congress (MNK) activists founded the "Free People" NGO in April 2013. Later that year, the MNK/FP network organized the 14, 15, and 35th Maidan Self Defense companies. MSD co.14 spearheaded the Chernihiv volunteer battalion's creation in 2014.
"Free People" leader Andriy Levus was in charge of the HQ of the Maidan Self Defense militia (led by A.Parubiy) in 2013-14, then was deputy head of the SBU (led by V.Nalyvaichenko) in 2014. In November 2014 he was elected to Parliament via the People's Front (led by A.Yatsenyuk).
"Ukraine should expect another radical change," the "Free People" leader turned Member of Parliament Andriy Levus told the @UkrainianWeek in 2016. "In fact, all the recipes were written long ago. Dmytro Dontsov formulated them...in the 20th century."
Little has been written (in English, at least) about the "Free People" affiliated Chernihiv battalion/company, the first commander of which (Roman Pytskiv) joined the People's Front "Military Council" in 2014 and told Kiev's "Day" newspaper that Right Sector was in his battalion.
@UkrainianWeek, 2016: "The project [Free People, FP] is being seriously looked at by People's Front [PF] as an alternate vehicle if PF bottoms out," and FP "already includes quite a few seated deputies from different levels of government," so is an FP party just a matter of time?
In 2016, the FP coordinator/4th MNK chair Sergii Kuzan attended the annual Ukrainian-American Youth Assoc "Heroes Holiday" in Ellenville, New York, and credited the OUN-B for having "created a powerful [Ukrainian] lobby in the world..." More about NY camp:
"Free People" leader Sergii Kuzan returned to Ellenville, NY in December 2017 to teach (essentially a "Free People Course") at the Ukrainian American Youth Association (CYM-A) winter camp about "hybrid war, the ideology of Ukrainian nationalism, and its modern interpretation."
In the last few yrs, "Free People" has cultivated ties to the organized Ukr. diaspora & US think tanks, even the US gov't via @UkrCongComAm (UCCA), CYM-A, Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR), Ukraine-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group, and more. (ukrnationalism.com/news/policy/31…)
In 2016-2017, "Free People" leader Andriy Levus appeared at the 8th & 9th annual US-Ukraine Security Dialogue conference in Washington DC (organized by the CUSUR, UCCA, & Am. Foreign Policy Council). In 2017, he was on a panel with former Amb. John Herbst of the Atlantic Council.
In February 2019, the Australia-born leader of OUN-B (ZChOUN) Stefan Romaniv sent his greetings to this year's Youth Nationalist Congress, where Ulana Suprun, the US-born Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, said something about MNK making Bandera proud. (mnk.org.ua/novini/vseukra…)
Suprun's husband Marko, leading host of @StopFakingNews, is/was a board member of the ODFFU—an OUN-B affiliated US group est. 1946 behind the annual "Heroes Holiday" in Ellenville, NY—and the Center for US-Ukr. Relations (CUSUR), co-founded by the ODFFU. ()
Should be noted: the CUSUR executive director, Vladimir Zaritsky, is also the "external relations officer"(?)(Референт зовнішніх зв’язків) of the ODFFU. No wonder Bandera's grandson was on the steering committee of the annual CUSUR "Ukraine's Quest" roundtable 8x from 2000-2011.
In March 2019, the MNK website published an "Ideological Memorandum" by the "Leadership [Provid] of the OUN-B." (mnk.org.ua/novini/nam-ukr…) Is today's "Provid" the "Foreign Units of the OUN" (ZChOUN)? I think probably yes. But is the CUN and/or MNK under this group's control? Idk.
In April 2019, MNK/"Free People" member Ivan Kovalyk co-created the "Protect Ukraine" campaign. That month it posted a notice on Facebook telling Ukrainians to vote against Zelensky co-signed by MNK, CUN, and a number of other prominent far-right people & orgs. Google Translated:
The 4/12/19 "Protect Ukraine" announcement was signed by Yuriy Shukhevych, former leader of UNA-UNSO; Dmitry Yarosh, former leader of Right Sector (and before that leader of CUN's paramilitary arm); Andriy Tarasenko, current RS leader; Volodymyr Viatrovych; Serhiy Kvit; and more.
One week later, the day of the Poroshenko-Zelensky debate (4/19/19), "Free People" and the MNK were among the most visible sponsors of a sizable "Protect Ukraine" rally and march in Kyiv, where Poroshenko spoke to supporters. The march reportedly measured over a kilometer long.
Andriy Parubiy, the white nationalist Chairman of Ukraine's Parliament & high-ranking member of the People's Front party, is one of the "Protect Ukraine" campaign's biggest & earliest supporters. He's already threatened the new (Jewish) President Zelensky:
In 2015, then-Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Parubiy, made an extensive tour of the Ukrainian American community, got a lot of meetings in Washington DC, and keynoted the 7th annual US-Ukraine Security Dialogue conference.
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The former Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh, who co-signed the anti-Ze "Protect Ukraine" plea, has said that President Zelensky will be lynched if he "betrays" the nation, (), a threat that "Protect Ukraine" promoted on its Facebook page a few days ago.
These recent, serious threats from far-right leaders toward President Zelensky come on the heels of a group of western-funded NGOs "threaten[ing] him with unrest" re: a number of "red lines." How similar are their demands to those from "Protect Ukraine"?()
This past month, Svoboda, Right Sector, UNA-UNSO and others rallied under the banner of "Protect Ukraine" in Kyiv, where protesters heard from the notoriously problematic director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Rememberance, Volodymyr Viatrovych. ()
Two years ago, Svoboda, Right Sector, Azov's National Corps, CUN (~OUN-B), OUN-M, and Sich-C14 signed a symbolic "National Manifesto" that has yet to "unite the right." Could "Free People" (FP) +/or "Protect Ukraine" do so? In 2018-19, FP demo'd with Svoboda, RS, UNA-UNSO, & C14.
