Poroshenko vows to prevent political parties from having armed units
KYIV. July 16 (Interfax) - Not a single political group in Ukraine will be allowed to have its own armed groups, says President Petro Poroshenko.
"Not a single party will have either armed groups or armed criminal units," Poroshenko said at the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday, where he presented his bill amending the constitution regarding the decentralization of the national governance system.
"Although I've pursued a course toward de-monopolization, monopoly over the use of force and weapons will always belong only to the state, however imperfect the law enforcement agencies might be so far. Nobody is allowed to give patriotic chevrons to gangsters," Poroshenko said in commenting on a recent incident in Mukacheve, the Zakarpattia (Trans-Carpathian) region.
Mukacheve saw an armed clash on July 11, which involved people close to parliamentarian Mykhailo Lanyo, local policemen, and members of the nationalistic organization Right Sector, which is banned in Russia.
Various reports suggested that four people were killed and some 14 others injured in the skirmish.