Oleksandr Ivanovych Muzychko (; 19 September 1962 – 24 March 2014), nicknamed Sashko Bilyi (Сашко Білий, Alex White), was a Ukrainian political activist, a member of UNA-UNSO and coordinator of

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

. Muzychko had vowed to fight "

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

for as long as blood flows in my veins."

Biography

Muzychko was born near the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

to a Ukrainian father and a Belarusian mother, both deported members of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

. He led the UNA-UNSO "Viking" group during the First Chechen War. In 1995, Muzychko was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to an individual. In 1997, he was accused of attempting to kill a member of UNA-UNSO in Kyiv. In 1999, Muzychko was sentenced to 3 years in prisonSasha White: Action or Hero of the Revolution?
BBC Ukrainian (March 7, 2014) for racketeering and kidnapping. In 2009, he was accused of a hostile

corporate raid In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to t ...

. In 2012, he ran for the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

in the 153rd electoral district (

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

), coming sixth. On 27 February 2014, Muzychko attacked the Prosecutor of the Rivne Oblast in his office and threatened to "slay as a dog" the Minister of Internal Affairs,

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

. On 28 February 2014, criminal proceedings were opened against him. On 7 March 2014, ITAR-TASS reported that Russian authorities wanted him for war atrocities. On 11 March 2014, Russian

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

opposition leader Valery Rashkin urged Russian special services to "follow

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

examples" and assassinate Right Sector leaders Dmytro Yarosh and Muzychko.

Death

On 24 March 2014, Oleksandr Muzychko was shot dead. There are conflicting stories about how this happened. An official inquiry concluded he had shot himself twice at the end of a police chase, one bullet scratching his skin and the other into the heart (this one proved to be fatal). According to Ukrainian MP Oles Doniy, a group of unknown armed people arrived in three Volkswagen minivans and kidnapped Muzychko and five other people from a café near

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

. They murdered Muzychko behind the café with two gunshots to the heart. In another telling of Doniy's account, a group of attackers forced Muzychko to halt his car, pulled him out of the vehicle, handcuffed him and shot him. According to the interior ministry of Ukraine, Muzychko died in a shoot-out with police in a café in Rivne. According to the ministry, the police raided the café to arrest Muzychko, but he opened fire while he tried to flee. He was shot when the police returned fire. The police were able to capture him and three others, but by the time the paramedics had arrived at the scene, he had died. On 25 March, police stated that Muzychko had shot himself. This was confirmed by an inquiry by the interior ministry, which concluded he had shot himself in the heart as police tried to bring him to the ground after a chase. The inquiry also concluded he had been fired previously, resulting in a scratch on his skin, and that the police had acted lawfully. Reacting to the news about the shooting, Dmytro Yarosh, leader of Right Sector, called for the resignation of Interior Minister

and the arrest of the police officers who came after Muzychko. An unknown member of the Right Sector promised to take reprisal against the minister for his death. Ten days before his death, Alexander Muzychko accused Ukrainian police ( MIA) and the general prosecutor's office of making preparations for his assassination. According to Volodymyr Yevdokymov (), a former officer of the SSU, Muzychko wounded one of the police officers, was shot and died from wounds.

Legacy

In Konotop, a street was named after Oleksandr Muzychko.

References

External links

Biography
* Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Muzychko on Ukrainian-Russian relations
(MPEG video) * Muzychko displays weapons while speaking to legislators {{DEFAULTSORT:Muzychko, Oleksandr 1962 births 2014 deaths Deaths by firearm in Ukraine Far-right politics in Ukraine People from Kizel People of the Chechen wars People of the Euromaidan Prisoners and detainees of Ukraine Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War Chechen field commanders Ukrainian criminals Ukrainian nationalists Ukrainian prisoners and detainees