Russia's FSB Agency Helped Plan Maidan Sniper Killings: Ukrainian Investigation

Thirty members of Russia's FSB security service, the successor to the KGB, helped Ukrainian authorities plan a police assault on mass protests in Kyiv that left 76 dead and hundreds injured Feb. 18-20, Ukrainian security officials said Thursday announcing preliminary results of their investigation into the killings.

Ukrainian authorities also announced the arrest of 12 former riot police officers identified as government snipers who shot protesters in February.

They said dozens of other police and security personnel involved in the killings have fled to Russian-occupied Crimea.

The FSB and Russia's defence ministry also shipped five tonnes of grenades and other explosives to Ukrainian security forces, which used them against protesters, officials said.

Officials said hired civilian goons were also involved in killings of protesters and a journalist.

Russia denied being involved in the shootings, but later acknowledged that an FSB officer, Sergei Beseda, was in Kyiv Feb. 20-21 to check security at the Russian embassy.

UPDATE: Ukrainian military analyst Dmitry Tymchuk said today on his Facebook page (translated here) that Beseda is a colonel-general who commands FSB intelligence operations against ex-Soviet republics. His role doesn't involve embassy security.

Tymchuk said sources informed him Beseda arrived in Kyiv Feb. 20 with a delegation of seven FSB officers.

In addition, Tymchuk names 20 other members of the FSB and other Russian intelligence agencies, half of them ranked lieutenant-colonel or above, who he says were already present in Kyiv at the time.

New Footage of Bloodbath

This Daily Beast story on the shootings includes previously unreported details and new images of security personnel apparently readying to attack protesters and, afterwards, packing up vans as they fled. 

BBC also has this new footage of the carnage.

Footage Best Documenting Shootings

But the footage I think best documents the bloodbath remains this pair of videos showing heavily armed police with sniper rifles going into action -- as well as a 41-minute protesters' POV showing numerous unarmed protesters and medics getting shot, some while withdrawing.

The shootings were reportedly part of a failed larger plan involving over 20,000 police to crush the mass protests against Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych before he fled power Feb. 22, Toronto's Globe and Mail reported in February.

The story cited these documents from Hennadiy Moskal, a Ukrainian parliament member and former deputy chair of Ukraine's SBU security service.

Ukraine Crisis: Video From Maidan Sniper Killings in Kyiv

Here are two contrasting POV videos that give a glimpse into what really happened in the last hours of the mass protests in Ukraine that forced president Viktor Yanukovych out of power on Feb. 21.

First is a 13-minute video of heavily armed police and government snipers moving into attack positions on Feb. 20 or 21.

Second is a 41-minute video from the protesters' side, showing how police and government snipers shot numerous unarmed demonstrators -- in some cases as they withdrew -- and medics trying to help those stricken.

The bloodbath was apparently part of a larger plan to encircle and open fire on thousands of protesters camped out in downtown Kyiv, involving 22,000 police and hundreds of special forces troops, according to Ukrainian legislator Hennadi Moskal, a former deputy interior minister.

Tracksuit-Wearing Government Thugs

Yanukovych was also accused of hiring thousands of tracksuit-wearing thugs -- known as "titushki," after Vadim Titushko, a 20-year-old martial arts enthusiast who beat up two journalists at a pro-government demonstration last year.

Titushki attacked and in some cases reportedly tortured and killed anti-government protesters and at least one journalist, while badly beating a second journalist, Tetyana Chornovol, after a dramatic car chase caught on her dashboard camera. Chornovol had been active in the Kyiv protest camp and had been investigating Yanukovych's corruption.

Vadim Titushko himself later switched sides and announced he supported the mass protests against Yanukovych, acknowledging he had made a mistake.

Since Yanukovych fled Ukraine, titushki have still been reported in eastern Ukrainian cities and Crimea. In this video, titushki in Crimea, calling themselves "self-defense" members, attempt to confront Ukrainian marines at a base blockaded by Russian armoured personnel carriers.

Surveillance Notes Hint at Attack

UPDATE: Journalists working on the YanukovychLeaks website, who are sifting through thousands of documents left behind by the deposed president at his lavish estate, report that Yanukovych's head bodyguard, Konstyantyn Kobzar, made what appear to be surveillance notes about Chornovol's movements around the time of the attack.

The notes say: "Chornovol went to Maidan," followed by "23:10 turned off her phone. 23:50 turned it on at Khreshchatyk str." The notes go on to say "23:50 cleanup operation started" and "01:00 done (clean)."

Ukraine Crisis: Investigative Reporters Move Into Yanukovych Estate to Probe Corruption

In the wake of the Ukrainian revolution, the country's long-besieged investigative journalists have turned one of the most secretive locations in eastern Europe into a haven for transparency and accountability.

Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's lavish 350-acre estate outside Kyiv -- which included an ostrich farm and a private lake complete with a full-size moored pirate galleon -- has been taken over by a team of Ukraine's investigative journalists.

They're using it as a base to study tends of thousands of documents found at the residence that are helping reveal the tale of the staggering corruption of Yanukovych's regime.

Their work may help Ukraine track down billions that were apparently looted from state coffers during Yanukovych's four years in office.

President's Son Won 50% of State Contacts

In a country where the average person makes $500 a month, Ukraine's new government says $37 billion went missing under Yanukovych, while another $70 billion flowed into offshore accounts -- though it's not clear how much of the latter amount was illegitimate. The government says its coffers are now virtually empty.

As an example of the corruption, the ousted president's son -- a 41-year-old dentist -- accumulated vast wealth during his father's short time in office and was reportedly worth $500 million in Nov. 2013. His various holding companies are reported to have won 50 percent of all state contracts in Jan. 2014.

The newfound freedom of Ukraine's investigative journalists is in sharp contrast with the country's recent record as one of the world's worst places for press freedom. In 2010, after Yanukovych came to power, the country fell from 90th place to 131st place in the annual press freedom ranking of the group Reporters Without Borders -- winding up behind Iraq and Zimbabwe.

The Ukrainian journalists have created the YanukovychLeaks website to publish their findings. Read more background here.

Ukraine Crisis: Only 15% of Russians Supported Action on Ukraine

As the crisis over Russia's invasion of Ukraine escalates, I thought it'd be useful to add my two hryvnias.

I'll be posting occasional news items I think are enlightening from my perspective as an investigative journalist of partly Ukrainian descent.

Here's an interesting take from Time Magazine. It reveals that only 15 percent of Russians actually wanted their government to intervene to help Ukraine's deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych, stay in power.

In the survey, conducted by the Kremlin's own pollster, 73 percent said Russia shouldn't interfere in what they believed was an internal matter for Ukrainians. (Russian speakers and Google Translate users can read the complete results here.)

The poll was carried out Feb. 1 and 2, before mass protests in Ukraine forced Yanukovych to flee to Russia. Ukraine's new authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych for mass murder in connection with the killing of nearly 100 protesters by police and government snipers as he clung to power.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has vociferously denounced the overthrow of his ally Yanukovych and sent thousands of Russian soldiers into Ukraine's Crimea region shortly after.

The poll also found that 30 percent of respondents in Moscow and St. Petersburg predicted Russia could see a similar protest movement, particularly if faced with a severe economic crisis or poverty.