The Tryzub () is a

Ukrainia Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

n paramilitary organization founded in 1993 by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists. Its full name is the

Stepan Bandera Stepan Andriyovych Bandera (, ; ; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B. Bandera was born in Austria-Hungary, in Galicia (Eas ...

All-Ukrainian Organization "Tryzub" (). Its main goal is to create the Ukrainian United Independent State (). According to Tryzub, its enemies are "

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

and

chauvinism Chauvinism ( ) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. The ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' describes it ...

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizen ...

and

pseudo- Pseudo- (from , ) is a prefix used in a number of languages, often to mark something as a fake or insincere version. In English, the prefix is used on both nouns and adjectives. It can be considered a privative prefix specifically denoting '' ...

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

and

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, any evil that seeks to parasitize the sweat and blood of

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

History

It was created in October 1993 by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists. Tryzub's leader since 2005 is

Dmytro Yarosh Dmytro Anatoliiovych Yarosh (; born 30 September 1971) is a Ukrainian activist, politician, nationalist and military commander who is the main commander of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. From 2013 to 2015, he led the Right Sector nationalist o ...

. Among other important figures are

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

's Officer Union member Eugene Fil (Євген Філь) and Ivan Suta (Іван Сута). Yarosh pointed out the presence of educated theorists, naming

Serhiy Kvit Serhiy Myronovych Kvit (; born 26 November 1965), is a Ukrainian literary critic, journalist, educator and social activist. Former champion of Ukraine in fencing (1984). Kvit has served as Rector (President) of the National University of Kyiv-M ...

(Сергій Квіт) and Peter Ivanishin. Tryzub became the basis for the formation of the

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 ...

, and Yarosh became the leader of the coalition. As of 5 February 2014, the

Investigative Committee of Russia The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF; ) has since January 2011 been the main federal investigating authority in Russia. Its name (''Sledstvennyi komitet'') is usually abbreviated to ''SKR'' (). The agency replaced the Ru ...

claimed to have issued an international arrest warrant for Dmytro Yarosh.

Name and symbols

The term ''tryzub'' () is the name of the

coat of arms of Ukraine The coat of arms of Ukraine is a blue Escutcheon (heraldry), shield with a Gold (color), golden trident. It is colloquially known as the ''tryzub'' (, , ). The small coat of arms was officially adopted on 19 February 1992, while Constitution ...

. The front shape resembles a

trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

. Ukrainian includes the special term ''tryzubets'' () for a trident ''per se'', the shape on the coat of arms is specifically called by a derivative term ''tryzub''. The difference between ''tryzub'' and ''tryzubets'' is not fully translatable in English, yet resembles the one between a trident and a ''

trishula The ''trishula'' () is a trident, a divine symbol, commonly used as one of the principal symbols in Hinduism. It is most commonly associated with the deity Shiva and widely employed in his iconography. Etymology The name ''trishula'' ultimate ...

''. While the first is more casual, the second is more symbolic. The organization logo consists by the official description of "the Christ sword and the ''tryzub'', like that of the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups. ...

References

Anti-communism in Ukraine Anti-communist organizations Euromaidan Far-right politics in Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Paramilitary forces of Ukraine Political organizations based in Ukraine {{Ukraine-org-stub