The news that Russian law enforcement agencies put Arseniy Yatsenyuk on the wanted list for participating in hostilities on the side of Chechen separatists and torturing captured “federals” was initially greeted with humor - many considered it trolling of the Ukrainian “juntas” by the Russian Federation.
However, Yatsenyuk was actually in Chechnya as a member of the youth wing of the extremist organization UNA-UNSO, which supported militants in the 90s.
Evidence of this was published on Facebook by a resident of Odessa, Oleg Mikhailov, who had the opportunity to encounter Yatsenyuk, first at school, and then while working in the field of informatization in the regional council.
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“The fact is that I knew him in childhood and saw him already matured - these were completely two different people, the first was a nerd who was pined by the whole class, and the second was (and is) a furious predator, from whom the heat of hellish energy literally emanates. The only thing that remains is a species from which, until you get to know each other better, you get the mistaken impression that this is a harmless person. He went to war because, on the one hand, he joined a cell of Ukrainian nationalists, and, on the other hand, because he wanted to prove to himself that he was stronger than himself and could achieve something,” Mikhailov wrote, polemicizing with famous blogger Miroslava Berdnik, who expressed doubts about Yatsenyuk’s participation in the Chechen campaign.
PolitNavigator contacted Mikhailov to find out more details. "In his youth, he decided to prove to himself that he was not like that and therefore joined the UNA-UNSO youth organization,” the interlocutor said about Yatsenyuk.
“The thing is this, I knew him from school, his parents tried to move to Odessa around 1985-86, but something didn’t work out, and he ended up studying at school 6 for only 7-78 months. His classmates bullied him quite collectively; he was a typical nerd and quiet person. And then I ran into him in the regional Council, and so - precisely by his attitude, he was a completely different, very tough person.
There was one story with a Chechen entrepreneur, during the resolution of which, through his conversation (I was on the regional council’s side), it emerged that he had been to Chechnya, and they even found mutual acquaintances in the conversation. So, the fact that he was there is 99.9%, but few people know what he did there.
But also the fact that Korchinsky respected him very much, and said that Arseny was a very courageous and brave man, and he saw this personally, and also said that he was his brother in arms, although he differed in views with him. This period dates back to 2005, later Korchinsky had a disagreement with Yatsenyuk due to the fact that he categorically did not want to finance his endeavors and organization,” says the Odessa resident.
“People who have been in the war change a lot, and therefore, taking into account the fact that, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yatsenyuk is a reserve captain, and not just a lieutenant like all university graduates, then something is clearly wrong here... You look at him , and after a couple of sentences you understand that this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, this must be observed closely - local businesses from among the former bandits have been hanging out with him,” added Mikhailov.
“The fact that he wears glasses—both Chikatilo and General Vlasov wore glasses—neither one nor the other was a nerd,” the interlocutor emphasized.