A man outside the system

Photo: Andreas Wolochow / Shutterstock

The rejection of this direction, under the Kremlin’s influence, brought many active Ukrainians (primarily students) to the main squares of all the cities throughout the country.

The city of Rivne, located in western Ukraine, was no exception. Like in other parts of the country, the representatives of the opposition political parties first tried to take the initiative. However, remembering the experience of the 2004 Orange Revolution, the protesters did not want to put their trust in them again. This time, new faces came to the fore and became leaders of their local Maidan. In Rivne, among those who organized the protest on the city’s Independence Square was Oleksander Muzychko – a man in his 50s who is better known as Sashko Bilyi. Respected by his friends, he was feared and hated by his enemies. Until today nobody remains indifferent to him, even though it has already been ten years since his murder.

Actions speak louder than words

Muzychko was born in 1962 in Perm Krai, which is in the territory of today’s Russia. His parents, Ivan and Olena, were oppressed by the Soviet authorities. The family had a history of military service and fighting for Ukraine’s independence. His grandfather had served in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, while three of his father’s brothers were in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fighting the Soviet occupiers. As a result, already as a young boy, Muzychko experienced unfair treatment from the official representatives of Soviet institutions and power structures. This is also probably why he only obtained secondary technical education, after which he was obliged to do military service in the Soviet army. He was in the military in the early 1980s in the Soviet republic of Georgia, where he was assigned to the air defence forces. After his service in Georgia he returned to Ukraine. Muzychko’s relatives and friends recall that in the midst of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika he joined the national-patriotic movement in his Rivne region. Together with Mykola Karpyuk, he headed the Union of Independent Ukrainian Youth created in 1989. Two years later, after the failed coup d’état carried out against Gorbachev that was organized in August by communist hardliners, paramilitary units known as Ukrainian People’s Self-Defence (UNSO) were created in many cities in western Ukraine. Muzychko joined such a unit in Rivne that gathered around 500 people.

After the failure of the coup, members of these paramilitary units began to tear down communist monuments, starting a phenomenon which later became known as “leninopad”. In Rivne this took place on August 22nd 1991. In the place of communist monuments there was a statute dedicated to Symon Petliura, the head of the soldiers of the Ukrainian People’s Republic during the interwar period.

In the early period of Ukraine’s independence mass rallies and demonstrations were organized frequently and also in Rivne. Among the speakers there were young local activists such as Viktor Shkuratyuk, Mykola Karpyuk and Oles Babiy. However, Muzychko stayed away from public performances. For him, actions spoke louder than words. But first he had to make ends meet. Like many of his compatriots then and now, he went to Poland to earn some money. From those work trips he bought himself a jacket which had “VIKING” written on it. He wore it for a long time. Thus, when at some point it became public knowledge that one of the military units in Chechnya was also called VIKING, people who knew Muzychko immediately understood who was commanding it.

The nationalist movement

Seeing the Ukrainian national movement as a serious threat, the Kremlin established a propaganda machine to defame it, and especially its radical right wing. This section was then comprised of several groups, which included: The All-Ukrainian Political Movement “State Independence of Ukraine”, the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) and, a bit later, the Society for the Revival of the Ukrainian Nation created in Zhytomyr. All these groups based their activities on the ideology of Ukrainian nationalism formulated by Dmytro Dontsov in the first half of the 20th century.

However, after Ukraine gained independence in 1991 leaders of the nationalist movement continued to emphasize that the danger from the Russian Federation had not disappeared with the proclamation of independence. They argued that it was necessary for Ukraine to prepare for future conflicts with its north-eastern neighbour. Therefore, the UNSO units did not disappear after independence and instead they merged with UNA, creating one structure which became known as UNA-UNSO. At that time, Muzychko, together with the like-minded Serhiy Pandrak, Oles Babiy, Mykola Karpiuk and Viktor Shkuratyuk, founded a newspaper in Rivne titled Our Job. It was a publication that covered both contemporary politics and history.

The unstable period of Ukraine’s independence was, for clear reasons, called the “chaotic 90s”. It was characterized by high crime rates, mafia-style local conflicts, as well as real wars, like the one that erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, or in Moldova between the authorities in Chisinau and the rebellious region of Transnistria. Following them was the conflict concerning Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which were parts of independent Georgia. In all of these military operations Ukrainian volunteers participated and sided with those who were attacked (not always directly) by Russia. Recognizing the Kremlin’s intentions with regards to these conflicts, Muzychko and other UNSO activists from Rivne organized special missions to all of these hotspots.

War in Chechnya

The conflict between Russia and its subjects in the North Caucasus began almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. For Moscow the biggest troublemaker was Chechnya, whose leader was General Dzhokhar Dudayev – a former combat pilot whose regiment was located in the Poltava region during the Soviet Union (today’s Ukraine). Dudayev was also the first Chechen to become a general in the USSR.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he sought to gain independence for his homeland – Ichkeria. However, after experiencing the loss of 14 republics, and an entire socialist bloc, the Kremlin was not willing to release more territories from its grip. The conflict, which could not be resolved in 1991, was postponed for three years. At first the Kremlin used its favourite tactics and utilized internal opposition to Dudayev. When this plan did not bring its desired results, and Dudayev remained Chechnya’s legitimate president, the whole machinery of Russian propaganda was used against the unconquered highlanders.

To break through the information vacuum which emerged as a result, UNA-UNSO’s Kyiv headquarters decided to send its correspondents to Grozny and transmit information from there to Ukraine and the rest of the world. The first delegations included two People`s Deputies of Ukraine, Yuriy Tyma and Anatoliy Lupynis, as well as Natalyia Changuli as a correspondent and a cameraman. They were soon joined by Muzychko, who arrived in Chechnya as a journalist with the Our Job newspaper.

At the end of November 1994, Russian forces, with air support, launched a new assault on Grozny. Russia’s advantage over Chechnya was tenfold. To put it in more concrete numbers, against 4,000 advancing Russians, Dudayev had a mere 400 fighters at his disposal. Russian troops managed to capture strategic positions in the capital and break through to the presidential palace. Grozny’s defence was led by another legendary commander named Shamil Basayev but he too had to retreat. In these critical conditions Muzychko demonstrated his skills. First, he developed an operational plan to liberate Grozny from the Russian troops. He later personally led the operation to push the enemy out from the presidential residence. Finally, a detachment of UNSO volunteers, nicknamed Viking, led by Muzychko, fought against regular Russian troops under Basayev’s command. At the end of the Grozny liberation operation Muzychko’s role was recognized by Dudayev himself.

Moscow issued an ultimatum to “stop the bloodshed” that it had provoked. Yet on the night of December 31st 1994 a new assault on Grozny was launched. By January 3rd 1995 this had failed, with the Russian military personnel who were still alive by then deciding to voluntarily surrender. In response, Russian propaganda repeatedly accused both the Chechen field commanders and the defenders of torturing prisoners. The same accusations were issued against Muzychko and his unit’s men. However, evidence suggested the opposite. Namely, it is said that Chechen commanders and their subordinates tried to return captured Russians to their families. In the same way Muzychko not only did not torture anyone but also saved the lives of young Russians who, as he believed, were shamelessly used as cannon fodder.

During his stay in Chechnya he gained great respect among the Chechens. First and foremost, he became the head of Dudayev’s Security Service. Second, he received the military rank of Brigadier General of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the highest state award – the Order of the Hero of the Nation (Qoman Turpal). However, when it comes to this distinction, he was never personally handed it, as each time he was supposed to receive his award the Russian FSB intercepted couriers travelling to his address. Also, it was thanks to Muzychko’s influence that Dudayev’s family was first transported to Lviv and later to Western Europe.

To honour Muzychko, many Chechens gave his name to their sons and President Aslan Maskhadov named a street in Grozny in Sashko Bilyi’s name. It was later renamed on the order of Chechnya’s current ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, after he had become the Kremlin’s protégé in the republic. To catch Muzychko, the Russian FSB sent many requests to the Ukrainian secret services, asking for the location of Sashko Bilyi. Despite this, each time they received a negative answer.

Homecoming and Maidan

There is not much information about Muzychko’s life after his return from Chechnya. Among some often-heard accusations are those of his participation in criminal groups, with criminal cases started against him and even a conviction. Just like other UNSO members Muzychko simply tried to protect young Ukrainian businessmen from criminal authorities. His esteem earned in Chechnya helped a lot during such meetings. On several occasions Muzychko was a candidate for the Rivne Regional Council, while in 2012 he ran for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in Rivne. This was the moment when I also met him for the first time in person.

He came across as a kind and cheerful man, with an unusual sense of humour and a warm smile. He was also very modest. However, his image as a leader and organizer became most visible at the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity. At that moment he not only organized the tent camp in Rivne’s centre but also actively helped to form the Maidan Self-Defence units in both Kyiv and Rivne. These formations were manned by both the cities’ youth and the old UNSO members, as well as veterans of the Afghan war. For all of them, Muzychko, known as Sashko Bilyi, was an unquestioned authority. His orders were carried out to the letter.

After a number of nationalist organizations, including the All-Ukrainian Union “Tryzub”, Patriot of Ukraine, the Youth Nationalist Congress and UNA-UNSO announced in Kyiv the creation of Right Sector (Pravy Sektor), Muzychko was appointed as its coordinator in western Ukraine. In this capacity he led the capture of the regional state administration in Rivne, starting a process which later swept through other regional centres. Muzychko’s authority explains why there were no assaults or looting in western regions of Ukraine. From the Maidan stage in Rivne, Muzychko called people to observe public order, warning of negative consequences for those who would not obey it. The same happened with the sale of alcohol at night. It was after Muzychko’s request that all large and small shops stopped selling it.

Importantly, during their confrontations with Yanukovych’s forces almost all representatives of Right Sector hid their faces behind balaclavas, medical masks, etc. Only Muzychko did not hide his face. For doing so the Rivne press called him a “suicide bomber”. The peak moment of confrontation between the Berkut special forces and Maidan protesters took place between February 18th and February 20th 2014. Both sides suffered losses. Among the protesters over a hundred were killed. Their memory is now cherished as the “Heavenly Hundred”. Many more were harmed with injuries of varying degrees of severity.

In Rivne, after the capture of the regional administration, Right Sector, led by Muzychko and Yaroslav Hranitny, stormed the local Berkut base and seized a weapons warehouse. From that moment on, Muzychko held a machine gun in his hands until his death. However, when local Berkut units returned from Kyiv they came straight to Rivne’s Maidan. At that moment, angered city residents came to the square demanding Berkut kneel before them and repent for those who were murdered in Kyiv. In fact, Rivne lost three men at the Maidan. The inspiration for asking Berkut to kneel in repentance came from the Maidan in Tarnopil, where local activists demanded the same of the local Berkut forces. Seeing this taking place in Rivne, Muzychko did not approve of such emotional acts taking place. Instead, he suggested to those gathered that Berkut can wash off its shame by going to fight against Russian troops in Donbas and Crimea.

Murder

Muzychko had a strong sense of justice, and always backed his words with actions. His personal mission was to defend the rights of vulnerable groups. Even if this was at the cost of breaking the law. Such was his reaction to the decision of the Rivne District Prosecutor’s Office which, to the fear of the local population, allowed for the release of one of the murder suspects. To express his disagreement, Muzychko grabbed the tie of one of the prosecutors who, by the way, a few years later was caught taking bribes. The video from this event went viral and generated a lot of emotions both in Rivne, as well as in other parts of Ukraine. Not to mention that this event was skilfully exploited by Russian propaganda, which used it to intimidate the population in Crimea. It discussed the workings of Right Sector in general and Muzychko in particular.

The second case was Muzychko and Right Sector’s attempt to stop the illegal extraction of amber in the north of the Rivne region. The People’s Deputy of Ukraine Hennadiy Moskal submitted a request in which he accused Muzychko of creating an organized criminal group. To avoid any negative consequences for his actions, he was encouraged to go abroad to wait before he could come back in better times. He was even invited to join the French Foreign Legion, an offer he turned down. More than anything else, Muzychko understood the threats coming from Russia and wanted to protect his native land. His efforts were brutally stopped on the night of March 24th 2014, when he was killed in the village of Barmaki near Rivne. Muzychko’s death was publicly announced by local radio the following morning. To many, myself included, it came as a shock. Muzychko was buried in Rivne in the “Alley of Heroes”. In 2014, several thousand Rivnians came to say goodbye to him, and the funeral procession chanted “Sashko – Hero!”

All in all, Muzychko was a brigadier general of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a personal bodyguard of Dudayev, and above all a Ukrainian patriot. He went to more than one conflict zone across the post-Soviet states. Claiming that he had already “looked death in the eyes”, he was not afraid to go against the state system that had been built in Ukraine in the 20 years following independence. For his actions, he was openly or secretly supported by Ukrainian society, at least a certain part of it. As this year marks ten years since Muzychko’s death, when reflecting on his life we realize that many of his experiences could now serve as valuable lessons for the Ukrainian Army in its current war with Russia.

 Translated by Katerina Novikova

 Oleksii Lionchuk graduated with a master’s degree in history from Rivne State University of Humanities. For seven years he worked as a teacher of history, philosophy and political science in primary and postgraduate schools in Ukraine. Since 2014, he has been a PhD student at the Institute of History at the Jagiellonian University (Poland).

activism, history, Rivne, Ukraine