:Right Sector

The organization's name in Ukrainian is Правий сектор (transliterated Pravyy sektor), translated as Right Sector. (General-audience publications often transliterate it as Pravy Sektor or Pravyi Sektor.) One account derives the name from the group's effort to protect the right-hand side of the Euromaidan protestors at one point during the Maidan protests.{{cite speech |script-title=uk:Про початок Майдану і Правого Сектору |trans-title=About the beginning of the Maidan and Right Sector |language=uk |first=Andriy |last=Pastushenko |event=Press conference |date=10 April 2014 |location=Maidan Press Center, Kiev |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUTLSUIqQ4 |format=video |quote=It began to rain, and you understand that the police were then panicking at even a single move toward setting up tents. The girls tried to unwrap the usual oilcloth, and the police immediately tore it... Volodya Stretovych, speaking from the podium, then shouted through the microphone: 'Nationalist-guys, hold the right sector, that protects the right side!' |access-date=27 May 2014 |archive-date=4 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104012336/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUTLSUIqQ4 |url-status=live }} Dmytro Yarosh owns the trademark "Right Sector".{{cite web|url= http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7124977/|title=Ярош задекларував право на торговельну марку "Правий сектор" |website= Ukrainska Pravda|access-date= 18 March 2018 |archive-date= 19 October 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019101428/http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7124977/|url-status= live}} Russian language-speakers may refer to members of the Right Sector as pravoseki ({{langx |ru| правосеки}}); singular: pravosek ({{langx |ru| правосек}}).Олег Бондаренко, "Чёрный террор", 2014 in Izvestia.

File:Dmytro Jarosh.jpg, Tryzub's leader and the former leader of Right Sector.]]

Right Sector was formed in late November 2013 as a confederation of street-fighting soccer fans and right-wing nationalist groups: Patriot of Ukraine (Andriy Belitsky), the Social-National Assembly, Trident (Dmytro Yarosh), UNA–UNSO (Yuriy Shukhevych), White Hammer, and Carpathian Sich.{{cite journal|author1=Andreas Umland|author2=Anton Shekhovtsov|title=Ukraine's Radical Right|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=July 2014|volume=25|issue=3|pages=59–60|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v025/25.3.shekhovtsov.html|via=Project MUSE|access-date=21 July 2014|quote=Along with Svoboda, the other far-right movement that was a prominent presence on the Maidan was the more diverse, less studied, and now notorious fringe organization that calls itself Pravy Sektor (Right Sector).... That alliance came into being in late November 2013 as a loose collection of extraparliamentary minigroups from an ultraconservative and partly neo-Nazi fringe. They had names such as the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization "Trident" (a moniker meant to combine the memory of a controversial nationalist leader who died in 1959 with the three-pronged heraldic symbol of Ukraine), the Ukrainian National Assembly, the Social-National Assembly, and White Hammer. Their purpose in banding together was to fight Yanukovych's regime by force.|doi=10.1353/jod.2014.0051|s2cid=153884774}}{{cite news |last1=Krasnolutska |first1=Daryna |last2=Verbyany |first2=Volodymyr |date=11 February 2014 |title=Ukraine radicals steer violence as nationalist zeal grows |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/ukraine-radicals-steer-violence-as-nationalist-zeal-grows.html |agency=Bloomberg |access-date=11 March 2017 |archive-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129042234/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/ukraine-radicals-steer-violence-as-nationalist-zeal-grows.html |url-status=live }} The BBC reports that Right Sector's Kyiv organization is primarily formed by Russian-speaking soccer ultras who share nationalist views.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25826238|title=Profile: Ukraine's 'Right Sector' movement|date=21 January 2014|access-date=22 July 2016|website=BBC News|quote="The backbone of the organisation in Kiev is formed by Russian-speaking football fans sharing nationalist views [...] Unlike other protesters [...] most of the Right Sector activists do not support the idea of joining the EU, which they consider to be an oppressor of European nations."|archive-date=15 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915205550/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25826238|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/21594941 |title=Ukraine: A new and dark chapter |author=G.C. |date=22 January 2014 |newspaper=Economist |quote=It was not long after that that young men associated with the Right Sector (Pravyy Sektor), a motley confederation of football hooligans and nationalist groups involved in the pro-European protests, took matters into their own hands. |access-date=21 July 2014 |archive-date=9 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809061759/http://www.economist.com/node/21594941 |url-status=live }}

The organization views itself within the tradition of Ukrainian partisans, such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought in the Second World War against the Soviet Union and both for and against the Nazi Germany.{{cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/newsticker/dpa_nt/infoline_nt/thema_nt/article125103098/Die-radikale-ukrainische-Gruppe-Rechter-Sektor.html|title=Die radikale ukrainische Gruppe Rechter Sektor|trans-title=The radical Ukrainian group Right Sector|language=de|work=Die Welt|date=22 February 2014|access-date=22 July 2016|quote=Right Sector (Pravy Sektor) is an informal association of right-wing and neo-fascist factions.|archive-date=29 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729235452/http://www.welt.de/newsticker/dpa_nt/infoline_nt/thema_nt/article125103098/Die-radikale-ukrainische-Gruppe-Rechter-Sektor.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Baranova|first=Maria|author-link=Maria Baronova|title=No one has done more for Ukrainian nationalism than Vladimir Putin|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/116841/bolotnaya-prisoner-maria-baronova-putins-ukraine-occupation|magazine=The New Republic|date=4 March 2014|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418142325/https://newrepublic.com/article/116841/bolotnaya-prisoner-maria-baronova-putins-ukraine-occupation|url-status=live}} Yarosh, Right Sector's leader, has trained armed nationalists in military exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union.{{cite news|last=Klußmann|first=Uwe|title=Conflict with Russia|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/krim-krise-die-fatalen-fehler-der-kiewer-regierung-a-956680.html|access-date=6 March 2014|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=3 March 2014|archive-date=6 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306175934/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/krim-krise-die-fatalen-fehler-der-kiewer-regierung-a-956680.html|url-status=live}} Co-founder Andriy Tarasenko told LIGA news agency in January 2014 that most participants were "ordinary citizens not related to any organizations".{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26001710|title=Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest|date=1 February 2014|website=BBC News|quote=The Right Sector is a radical nationalist opposition group[...] 'But most participants are just ordinary citizens having no relation to any organisations,' he [Tarasenko] said."|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=31 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731131518/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26001710|url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=20 January 2014 |title=Right Sector: Who are they and what is sought? |url=http://news.liga.net/interview/politics/962730-pravyy_sektor_kto_oni_i_chego_dobivayutsya.htm |language=ru |location=Kiev |publisher=LIGA BusinessInform |agency=LIGA News |quote=But most participants – ordinary citizens, not related to any organizations.… In eastern Ukraine, we have tried to organize the union in Kharkov, but there with [their own?] Maidan is not all good. |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=28 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428022429/http://news.liga.net/interview/politics/962730-pravyy_sektor_kto_oni_i_chego_dobivayutsya.htm |url-status=live }}

Right Sector claims to have received donations from the Ukrainian diaspora.

File:Protesters throwing brick pavement in the direstion of internal troops line covered under smoke of burning tires. Clashes in Ukraine, Kyiv. Events of February 18, 2014-2.jpg

Right Sector became one of the main actors in the January 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots, a part of the Euromaidan protests, in their later and more violent stages.[https://web.archive.org/web/20181130205424/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/radicals-a-wild-card-in-ukraines-protests/2014/02/02/6099dc60-8bda-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html Radicals a wild card in Ukraine's protests], The Washington Post (2 February 2014) On 19 January 2014 the organization encouraged its members to bring bottles to the protests to produce Molotov cocktails and bombs. The Yanukovich government classified it as an extremist movement and threatened its members with imprisonment.{{cite news |last=Theise |first=Eugen |title=Radical 'Pravy Sektor' group shifts Kyiv protests to the right |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=11 November 2014 |url=http://www.dw.de/radical-pravy-sektor-group-shifts-kyiv-protests-to-the-right/a-17424914 |quote=Only a few trusted individuals know [that the men] belong to 'Right Sector'…. Since the government classified their movement as extremist, they could face a jail term of up to 15 years. |access-date=1 March 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301184058/http://www.dw.de/radical-pravy-sektor-group-shifts-kyiv-protests-to-the-right/a-17424914 |url-status=live }}

Right Sector has been described as the most organized and most effective of the Euromaidan forces when it came to confronting police.{{cite AV media |last=Gatehouse |first=Gabriel |date=1 March 2014 |title=Ukraine: Far-right armed with bats patrol Kiev |medium=Webcast |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26394980 |publisher=BBC |quote=At a news conference in Russia, [former President Yanukovych] called his usurpers 'young, neo-fascist thugs'.}} Right Sector claims that it was the main organizer of violent resistance against armed attacks by the state at Euromaidan. Yarosh stated that the group had amassed a sizable arsenal of weapons;{{cite news |last=Shuster |first=Simon |date=4 February 2014 |title=Exclusive: Leader of far-right Ukrainian militant group talks revolution with TIME |url=https://time.com/4493/ukraine-dmitri-yarosh-kiev/ |magazine=Time |quote=Pravy Sektor has amassed a lethal arsenal of weapons.… Its fighters control the barricades around the protest camp … and when riot police have tried to tear it down, they have been on the front lines beating them back…. [Its] ideology borders on fascism…. |access-date=29 March 2014 |archive-date=29 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329105033/http://time.com/4493/ukraine-dmitri-yarosh-kiev/ |url-status=live }} these include guns taken from police stations in Western Ukraine.{{cite news |last=Ishchenko |first=Volodymyr |title=Ukraine has not experienced a genuine revolution, merely a change of elites |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 February 2014 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/ukraine-genuine-revolution-tackle-corruption |quote=The new government cannot control the infamous Right Sector. Its members are now popular heroes…. They have guns captured from police departments in the western regions…. |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=30 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730135515/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/ukraine-genuine-revolution-tackle-corruption |url-status=live }}

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported antisemitic incidents involving Svoboda and Right Sector during the demonstration, where their militants were calling political opponents "Zhyd" and flying flags with neo-Nazi symbols. According to Haaretz, these organizations were also distributing translated editions of Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the demonstrators in Independence Square.{{Cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-ukraine-jews-new-dilemma-1.5326313|title=The New Dilemma for Jews in Ukraine|date=25 February 2014|website=Haaretz|access-date=2 March 2021|archive-date=25 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425220627/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-ukraine-jews-new-dilemma-1.5326313|url-status=live}}

On 4 March 2014, the organization called on readers of its Vkontakte social-media page to "correct th[e] misunderstanding" that had been created in English and Russian Wikipedia that Right Sector is fascist and neo-Nazi.{{cite news|title=In Ukraine, nationalists gain influence – and scrutiny|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-farright-insight-idUSBREA2H0K620140318|access-date=17 May 2014|work=Reuters|date=7 March 2014|author=Sabina Zawadzki|author2=Mark Hosenball|author3=Stephen Gray|archive-date=24 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224041356/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-farright-insight-idUSBREA2H0K620140318|url-status=live}} According to political science professor Olexiy Haran, Right Sector's role in Ukrainian politics was "extremely exaggerated" by Ukrainians associated with Yanukovich.

Mustafa Nayyem stated that he was with members of the Right Sector when they entered Viktor Pshonka's luxurious mansion and that the Right Sector recovered numerous GPU files from Pshonka's mansion after members of the Yanukovych government fled in exile to Russia.{{cite news |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/04/10/7064396/ |title=Матеріали справи проти Тимошенко можуть бути у "Правого сектора" – Найєм |trans-title=The case against Tymoshenko may be with the Right Sector – Nayem |work=Ukrayinska Pravda |date=15 April 2015 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=14 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214023318/https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/04/10/7064396/ |url-status=live }} These files included the secret bookkeeping of Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions' Black Ledger ({{langx|uk|Чорної книги}}) or Barn Book ({{langx|uk|амбарна книга}}), which implicated numerous persons to improper payments from pro-Kremlin and pro-Vladimir Putin sources including Paul Manafort for which the book included the handwritten records of 22 payments over five years to Manafort, nine of which had been signed by Vitaly Anatolyevich Kalyuzhny ({{langx|uk|Віталій Анатолійович Калюжний}}), who was the Verkhovna Rada's foreign relations committee chairman.{{cite news |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/cdn/graphics/2016/05/black-pr/ |title=Рукописи не горят. Черная бухгалтерия Партии регионов: фамилии, даты, суммы |trans-title=Manuscripts do not burn. Party of Regions Black Bookkeeping: surnames, dates, amounts |work=Ukrayinska Pravda |last1=Лещенко |first1=Сергей |last2=Марчук |first2=Антон |last3=Мусаева-Боровик |first3=Севгиль (Leshchenko, Serhiy; Marchuk, Anton; Musayeva-Borovik, Sevgil) |author1-link=Serhiy Leshchenko|date=31 May 2016 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=1 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601131600/https://www.pravda.com.ua/cdn/graphics/2016/05/black-pr/ |language=uk}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html |title=Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation |work=NYT |last=Kramer |first=Andrew E. |date=2 May 2018 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=27 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927014107/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html}} On 17 August 2016, Donald Trump removed Manafort as Trump's campaign chairman following Trump's first national security briefing directly because of the records in the secret ledger.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html |title=Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump's Campaign Chief |last1=Kramer |first1=Andrew E. |last2=McIntire |first2=Mike |last3=Meier |first3=Barry |date=14 August 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=16 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816000612/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/what-donald-trump-s-intelligence-briefing-will-entail-n632816|title=Donald Trump Receives First Intelligence Briefing|last1=Dilanian|first1=Ken|last2=Windrem|first2=Robert|date=17 August 2016|publisher=NBC News|access-date=13 December 2019|archive-date=17 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817222402/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/what-donald-trump-s-intelligence-briefing-will-entail-n632816}}{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ukraine-secret-documents-show-12-7-million-earmarked-manafort |title=Ukraine secret documents show $12.7 million in payments for Manafort |work=PBS Newshour |last=Vasilyeva |first=Nataliya |date=19 August 2016 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=15 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015100159/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ukraine-secret-documents-show-12-7-million-earmarked-manafort}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-did-ex-trump-aide-paul-manafort-really-do-ukraine-n775431 |title=What Did Ex-Trump Aide Paul Manafort Really Do in Ukraine? |publisher=NBC News |last1=Abou-Sabe |first1=Kenzi |last2=Winter |first2=Tom |last3=Tucker |first3=Max |date=27 June 2017 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014125506/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-did-ex-trump-aide-paul-manafort-really-do-ukraine-n775431}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/25/trump-giuliani-and-manafort-the-ukraine-scheme/ |title=Trump, Giuliani, and Manafort: The Ukraine Scheme |work=The New York Review of Books |last=Waas |first=Murray |date=25 September 2019 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014094403/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/25/trump-giuliani-and-manafort-the-ukraine-scheme/}}

After Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election, Manafort demanded that the White House, Trump himself, and later Rudy Giuliani actively pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate and discredit Leshchenko{{clarify| need first name|date=March 2022}} and others because Leshchenko had published information from the Yanukovych Secret Ledger that was highly critical of Manafort's work in Ukraine.{{cite news |url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/08/ukraine-continued-the-key-witness-who-was-allowed-escape/ |title=Ukraine Continued: How a Crucial Witness Escaped |work=The New York Review of Books |last=Waas |first=Murray |date=8 October 2019 |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=9 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009054350/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/08/ukraine-continued-the-key-witness-who-was-allowed-escape/}} Manafort provided information to Giuliani and his company Giuliani Partners, including its employees Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to smear Leshchenko and others in Ukraine and entered into a joint legal defense agreement between Manafort's attorneys and Trump's attorneys. Manafort and Giuliani also discussed how to deal with Marie Yovanovitch.

File:Right Sector, Odessa.jpg holding Right Sector banner with ship-anchor design, 9 February 2014]]

In February 2014, Yarosh and the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine agreed to establish a "hotline" to prevent provocations and coordinate actions when issues arise.{{cite news |date=27 February 2014 |title='Right Sector' assured the ambassador of Israel, rejecting anti-Semitism |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/27/7016529/ |newspaper=Ukrayinska Pravda |language=uk |quote=Leaders of the 'Right Sector' assured the Israeli ambassador Reuven El Din that its ideology rejects all manifestations of chauvinism and xenophobia. |access-date=27 February 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303004929/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/27/7016529/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://embassies.gov.il/kiev/NewsAndEvents/Pages/DinElYaroshMeeting27Feb2014.aspx |title=Meeting of Reuven Din El with Dmytro Yarosh |date=27 February 2014 |website=Embassy of Israel in Ukraine |publisher=Israeli Diplomatic Network |language=uk |quote=The parties agreed to establish a 'hot line' to prevent provocations and for coordination on issues that arise. |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-date=13 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313062258/http://embassies.gov.il/kiev/NewsAndEvents/Pages/DinElYaroshMeeting27Feb2014.aspx |url-status=live }} The group assists in the protection of Jewish sites in Odesa.{{cite news |date=10 April 2014 |title=Right Sector has offered protection for Odesa Jews |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/04/10/7021975/ |newspaper=Ukrainian Pravda |language=uk |quote=The chief rabbi of Odesa … said that … they, along with a representative of the Right Sector, will paint over the insulting inscriptions. |access-date=10 April 2014 |archive-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411235230/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/04/10/7021975/ |url-status=live }} In April 2014, Yarosh allegedly demanded to be appointed Vice Prime Minister for the law enforcement matters but his demand was rejected; he was offered a post of the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instead{{cite web |last=Nayyem |first=Mustafa |date=1 April 2014 |title=За кулисами Правого сектора |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2014/04/1/7020952/ |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=21 November 2017 |quote=Сам Дмитро Ярош нібито вимагав для себе посади віце-прем'єра з питань силового блоку з одночасним підпорядкуванням йому внутрішніх військ. Вимогу відхилили, запропонувавши йому посаду заступника секретаря РНБОУ. ... Ще три тижні тому у владних коридорах обережно обговорювався також варіант призначення лідера Правого сектору заступником голови СБУ, але згодом з невідомих причин ці обговорення припинились. |archive-date=4 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204061552/http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2014/04/1/7020952/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news|last=Olearchyk|first=Roman|title=Arseniy Yatseniuk poised to become Ukraine prime minister|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/88987cf8-9f12-11e3-8663-00144feab7de.html|access-date=21 November 2017|newspaper=Financial Times|date=26 February 2014|quote=Andriy Parubiy, a lawmaker who served as commander of the protest movement's guards, was chosen to serve as chair of the national security and defence council. Victoria Siumar, a civil society activist, and Dmytro Yarosh, head of Right Sector, a militant protest group, were proposed as his deputies.|archive-date=22 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222032942/https://www.ft.com/content/88987cf8-9f12-11e3-8663-00144feab7de#axzz2uWvmVxAB|url-status=live}} but Yarosh rejected this position as being beneath him.{{cite news |last=Shuster |first=Simon |date=1 March 2014 |title=Many Ukrainians want Russia to invade |url=https://time.com/11005/many-ukrainians-want-russia-to-invade/ |newspaper=Time |quote=Shkiryak, a revolutionary lawmaker involved in the negotiations over Yarosh's role in the government, says the right-wing militant … was offered the role of deputy head of the National Security Council, but rejected it as beneath him. |access-date=6 April 2014 |archive-date=6 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140406015915/http://time.com/11005/many-ukrainians-want-russia-to-invade/ |url-status=live }} There were discussions of appointing Yarosh deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, but these discussions quickly petered out for unknown reasons.

Right Sector became a dominant theme of Russian propaganda, which grossly exaggerated its strength and influence in the new Ukraine. It was portrayed as a mortal threat to Russian speakers and Jews that necessitated a Russian military intervention. By April, Right Sector was being mentioned on Russia television almost as frequently as Putin's own United Russia party. In Crimea and the East, a "Right Sector" vandalism spree targeting synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and Holocaust memorials was widely seen as a Russian false flag attack. In Simferopol, a synagogue was defaced with the wolfsangel symbol used by the Ukrainian far-right, but in the mirror-image of its normal orientation; in Odesa, vandals defaced a Jewish cemetery with graffiti reading "Right Sector" but misspelled the group's name. The next day Yarosh met with the Chief Rabbi of Odesa to show solidarity with Ukrainian Jews and was photographed helping paint over the graffiti.{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/02/the-fascists-are-coming-the-fascists-are-coming/|title=The Fascists Are Coming, the Fascists Are Coming!|first=Hanna|last=Kozlowska|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=27 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127041338/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/06/02/the_fascists_are_coming_the_fascists_are_coming|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/02/russian-disinformation-distorted-reality-in-ukraine-americans-should-take-note-putin-mueller-elections-antisemitism/|title=Russian Disinformation Distorted Reality in Ukraine. Americans Should Take Note.|first=Sam|last=Sokol|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023061216/https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/02/russian-disinformation-distorted-reality-in-ukraine-americans-should-take-note-putin-mueller-elections-antisemitism/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/apr/21/ukraine-russia-squabble/|title=Ukraine, Russia trade accusations of blame for shootout at checkpoint|work=The Spokesman-Review|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=13 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613231737/https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/apr/21/ukraine-russia-squabble/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2014/03/03/global/ukraine-chief-rabbi-accuses-russians-of-staging-anti-semitic-provocations|title=Ukraine chief rabbi accuses Russians of staging anti-Semitic 'provocations'|date=3 March 2014|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031045915/https://www.jta.org/2014/03/03/global/ukraine-chief-rabbi-accuses-russians-of-staging-anti-semitic-provocations|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://podrobnosti.ua/974538-pravyj-sektor-doganjaet-edinorosov-po-kolichestvu-reklamy-v-rossijskih-smi-foto.html|title="Правый сектор" доганяет единоросов по количеству рекламы в российских СМИ (фото)|date=5 May 2014|website=podrobnosti|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414180622/https://podrobnosti.ua/974538-pravyj-sektor-doganjaet-edinorosov-po-kolichestvu-reklamy-v-rossijskih-smi-foto.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russian-state-media-pushes-propaganda-war-article-1.1722764|title=From Russia, with propaganda: Country's state media skews truth of Ukraine conflict|website=Daily News|date=15 March 2014 |location=New York|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=9 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209083935/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russian-state-media-pushes-propaganda-war-article-1.1722764|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-fighting-words-170000285--politics.html|title=Ukraine's Fighting Words|date=13 May 2014 |publisher=Yahoo! Finance|access-date=26 October 2020|archive-date=20 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220030912/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-fighting-words-170000285--politics.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/swastikas-drawn-on-odessa-holocaust-memorial|title=Swastikas Drawn on Synagogue and Holocaust Memorial in Odessa, Ukraine|date=10 April 2014|website=Tablet Magazine|access-date=22 October 2020|archive-date=3 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203234617/https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/swastikas-drawn-on-odessa-holocaust-memorial|url-status=live}}

On 7 March 2014, Tarasenko told Interfax-Ukraine that the "informal movement" would be transforming itself into a political party at a congress on 15 March.{{cite news |title='Right Sector' is becoming a party and Yarosh is going for the presidency |newspaper=Українська правда |location=Kiev |date=7 March 2014 |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/7/7018003/ |access-date=18 March 2014 |archive-date=13 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313005809/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/7/7018003/ |url-status=live }}{{request quotation|date=August 2014}} On 11 March 2014, Russian Duma opposition leader Valery Rashkin called on Russian special services to "liquidate" Yarosh and Right Sector's leader for West Ukraine, UNA–UNSO member Oleksandr Muzychko.{{cite news|title=Russian deputy calls on special services to 'liquidate' Yarosh and White [Muzychko]|url=http://lenta.ru/news/2014/03/11/komm/|newspaper=Lenta.ru|date=11 March 2014|quote=Russia's Investigative Committee … brought a case of banditry against Muzychko in connection with the Chechen separatists.… Muzychko is a prominent member of the nationalist association UNA–UNSO….|access-date=25 March 2014|archive-date=16 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316135529/http://lenta.ru/news/2014/03/11/komm|url-status=live}} He said that Muzychko had fought for Chechen separatists against Russian troops and been charged with banditry. Muzychko (who was given the nom de guerre "Sachko Bilyi") had also become known for the farcical Right Sector video, "Sachko Communicates with a Prosecutor", in which he yells at a local prosecutor, snatches his tie and threatens to drag him to Independence Square with a rope.{{cite news |last=Shynkarenko |first=Oleg |date=1 March 2014 |title=Can Ukraine control its far right ultranationalists? |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/01/can-ukraine-control-its-far-right-ultranationalists.html |periodical=Daily Beast |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330034819/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/01/can-ukraine-control-its-far-right-ultranationalists.html |archive-date=30 March 2014 |quote=Interior Minister Arsen Avakov condemned the video as 'not an exaggerated manifestation of the hunt for justice, but sabotage against people's faith in possible order.' [Muzychko] may have thought he was clowning around…}}

Muzychko was shot to death in Rivne, Ukraine, on 24 March 2014. A witness told a local news service that a dozen men took Muzychko out of a cafe, handcuffed him, and beat him and two bodyguards. Others said that they later heard two shots fired near the cafe.{{cite news |last=Petrulya |first=Stephen |date=25 March 2014 |title=Version No. 2–Sasha White Shot |url=http://charivne.info/news/Versiya-2-rozstrilu-Sashka-Biloho |language=uk |location=Rivne, Ukraine |agency=News Rivne |quote=A resident of the town … said that around twelve unknown men entered the Karas cafe…. They brought out all customers, including Muzychko. They put handcuffs on him and beat him and two bodyguards. After a time people heard two gunshots…. |access-date=11 May 2014 |archive-date=25 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525085016/http://charivne.info/news/Versiya-2-rozstrilu-Sashka-Biloho |url-status=live }} Ukraine's Interior Ministry stated that he was shot after opening fire on police and Sokil special forces. He was captured alive and arrested but died from his wounds before paramedics arrived.{{cite news |title=Ukraine far-right leader Muzychko dies 'in police raid' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26729273 |work=BBC News |date=25 March 2014 |quote=Muzychko fired at police as he was trying to flee…. Police then returned fire and captured him and three others … [Deputy Interior Minister] Yevdokimov said. 'He was still alive as they were arresting him….' |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=25 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325125031/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26729273 |url-status=live }} Police said he was being detained on suspicion of organized crime links, hooliganism and threatening public officials.{{cite news |last1=Pemble |first1=Adam |last2=Leonard |first2=Peter |agency=Associated Press |date=25 March 2014 |title=Busloads of Ukrainian troops leave Crimea |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/top-ukraine-nationalist-killed-police-operation |quote=Russian state television … has regularly aired lurid reports on Muzychko's antics as part of what media analysts say is a sustained effort to undermine the government… |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=26 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326143944/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/top-ukraine-nationalist-killed-police-operation |url-status=live }}[http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/interior-ministry-right-sector-coordinator-muzhychko-killed-in-shootout-with-police-340745.html Interior Ministry: Right Sector coordinator Muzhychko killed in shootout with police] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325144043/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/interior-ministry-right-sector-coordinator-muzhychko-killed-in-shootout-with-police-340745.html |date=25 March 2014 }} Kyiv Post Retrieved on 25 March 2014

File:Maidan Kiev 2014-04-13 11-48.JPG members standing guard at a Right Sector event, Euromaidan, Kyiv, 13 April 2014]]

Right Sector representatives held Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accountable for his death and vowed to avenge him.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} On 27 March 2014, Right Sector supporters demanded Avakov's resignation and tried to storm the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament).{{cite news|title=Profile: Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27173857|access-date=30 April 2014|publisher=BBC|date=28 April 2014|archive-date=30 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430232508/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27173857|url-status=live}} The next day, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, stated, "I strongly condemn the pressure by activists of the Right Sector who have surrounded the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Such an intimidation of the parliament is against the democratic principles and rule of law.""[http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2014/140328_04_en.pdf STATEMENT by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on recent events around the Parliament of Ukraine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608171908/http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2014/140328_04_en.pdf |date=2014-06-08 }}". European Union. A few days later, the group released an app that allows its members to organize tactics at events without being identified.{{cite news |date=10 April 2014 |title=Ukraine's ultra-nationalist Right Sector launches mobile app to organize tactics |url=http://en.ria.ru/world/20140410/189144635/Ukraines-Ultra-Nationalist-Right-Sector-Launches-Mobile-App-to.html |agency=RIA Novosti |quote=Right Sector … is a major ally of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party…. |access-date=10 May 2014 |archive-date=12 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221745/http://en.ria.ru/world/20140410/189144635/Ukraines-Ultra-Nationalist-Right-Sector-Launches-Mobile-App-to.html |url-status=live }} On 31 March 2014, a drunken Right Sector activist started shooting near a restaurant in central Kyiv. Three people were wounded, including the deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration.{{cite news |date=31 March 2014 |title='The Khreshchatyk shooter was drunk; he has been detained' – Avakov |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/31/7020930/ |newspaper=Ukrainian Pravda |location=Kiev |quote=One pulled out a gun; the second, a chemical-spray canister and splashed his face, then began firing…. |access-date=1 April 2014 |archive-date=3 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403111423/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/31/7020930/ |url-status=live }}

In April 2014, Right Sector announced that it had begun to form a special Donbas battalion for its paramilitary operations in the war in Donbas.[http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yarosh-assembles-donbas-special-battalion-344937.html Yarosh assembles 'Donbas' special battalion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205003209/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yarosh-assembles-donbas-special-battalion-344937.html |date=5 December 2014 }}, Kyiv Post (24 April 2014)
[http://en.itar-tass.com/world/729332 Ukraine's extremists forming battalion in Donetsk region] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426220327/http://en.itar-tass.com/world/729332 |date=26 April 2014 }}, ITAR-TASS (24 April 2014) On 22 April 2014, pro-Russian insurgents in Sloviansk detained American journalist Simon Ostrovsky for several days on suspicion of spying for the group.{{cite news |last=Karmanau |first=Yuras |date=23 April 2014 |title=Amid Russia warning, Ukraine is in a security bind |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pro-russian-insurgents-hold-journalist-hostage |agency=Associated Press |quote=Simon Ostrovsky, a journalist for Brooklyn-based Vice News, has not been seen since early Tuesday…. A spokeswoman for the Slovyansk insurgents confirmed that Ostrovsky was being held, … saying [he] is suspected of spying for Right Sector. |access-date=28 April 2014 |archive-date=28 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428075605/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pro-russian-insurgents-hold-journalist-hostage |url-status=live }}

Right Sector was officially registered as a political party by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on 22 May 2014.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/206070.html|title=Right Sector registered as official party|agency=Interfax-Ukraine|date=22 May 2014|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-date=15 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615013833/https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/206070.html|url-status=live}} A regional chief told The Wall Street Journal that it was less interested in running for office than in getting politicians to keep their promises.{{cite news |last=Sestanovich |first=Stephen |title=A firsthand view of Ukraine's election |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=25 May 2014 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/05/25/a-firsthand-view-of-ukraines-election/ |quote=Little that we heard distinguished Right Sector from garden-variety Euro-populism.… If Ukraine ever gets into the EU, these are people who will always be mad as hell at Brussels bureaucrats. |access-date=4 August 2017 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019101758/https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/05/25/a-firsthand-view-of-ukraines-election/ |url-status=live }} In the 25 May 2014 presidential race Yarosh received 127,000 votes, 0.7% of the total cast.{{cite web |url=http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/en/148/566632/ |title=Poroshenko wins presidential election with 54.7% of vote – CEC |publisher=Radio Ukraine International |date=29 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529212731/http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/en/148/566632/ |archive-date=29 May 2014 }}
{{cite news|url=http://telegraf.com.ua/ukraina/politika/1300294-rezultatyi-vyiborov-prezidenta-ukrainyi-2014-tsik-obrabotala-51-99.html|script-title=ru:Внеочередные выборы Президента Украины|trans-title=Extraordinary elections of the President of Ukraine|language=ru|publisher=telegraf.com.ua|date=29 May 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529233925/http://telegraf.com.ua/ukraina/politika/1300294-rezultatyi-vyiborov-prezidenta-ukrainyi-2014-tsik-obrabotala-51-99.html|archive-date=29 May 2014}}{{cite news |date=27 May 2014 |title=Poroshenko leads in presidential race with 54.45% of votes after 95.05% of electronic voting reports processed – CEC |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/206745.html |agency=Interfax-Ukraine |access-date=28 May 2014 |archive-date=29 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529103215/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/206745.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vp2014/wp300pt001f01=702.html |title=Results of voting in Ukraine, Extraordinary elections of President of Ukraine, 25 May 2014 |website=Central Election Commission of Ukraine |language=uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528102210/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vp2014/wp300pt001f01=702.html |archive-date=28 May 2014 }}{{request quotation|date=August 2014}} In a mid-May 2014 poll by the sociological group Rating, the party itself scored 1.7%.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.ratinggroup.com.ua/en/products/politic/data/entry/14095/ Social and political attitudes of the population: May 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007073850/http://ratinggroup.com.ua/en/products/politic/data/entry/14095/ |date=7 October 2014 }}, Sociological group "RATING" (20 May 2014) On 13 June 2014, a prosecutor's office in Kyiv was stormed by people who claimed to be Right Sector activists. Yarosh denied his organization's involvement and claimed that he could not have given orders to picket "the man who helped Euromaidan".{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/06/13/7028935 "Right sector" promises to investigate who and why stormed the Kyiv prosecutor's office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616010523/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/06/13/7028935/ |date=16 June 2014 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (13 June 2014){{request quotation|date=August 2014}} On 15 October 2014, around 125 masked men with Right Sector insignia blocked the company Zaporizhstal; Right Sector denied involvement in this blockade and labelled it as an attempt to discredit the organization.[http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/authorities-promise-to-thoroughly-investigate-into-facts-of-blocking-zaporizhstal-368783.html Authorities promise to thoroughly investigate into facts of blocking Zaporizhstal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021182838/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/authorities-promise-to-thoroughly-investigate-into-facts-of-blocking-zaporizhstal-368783.html |date=21 October 2014 }}, Kyiv Post (21 October 2014) In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Yarosh as a Right Sector candidate won a parliament seat by winning single-member district number 39 located in Vasylkivka Raion with 29.76% of the votes.{{cite news|url=http://vibori2014.rbc.ua/ukr/okrug/dnepropetrovskaya-oblast/odnomandatny-39|script-title=ru:Кандидати на мажоритарних округах – Одномандатный избирательный округ № 39|trans-title=Candidates in majority districts – Single-mandate constituency № 39|language=ru|publisher=RBK Ukraine|date=26 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223004531/http://vibori2014.rbc.ua/ukr/okrug/dnepropetrovskaya-oblast/odnomandatny-39|archive-date=23 December 2014}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/wp039ept001f01=910.html|title=Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014: Data on vote counting at precincts within single-mandate districts|work=Central Election Commission of Ukraine|date=29 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029091159/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/wp039ept001f01=910.html|archive-date=29 October 2014}} The party had competed in 35 districts.{{in lang|uk}} [http://vibori2014.rbc.ua/ukr/party/pravyy-sektor/spisok_majoritariev Candidates for constituency for Right Sector in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220030919/https://www.rbc.ua/rus/vyboru2014 |date=20 February 2022 }}, RBK Ukraine Yarosh did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).{{in lang|uk}} [http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/site2/p_deputat?d_id=18153&skl=9 Yarosh's profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100051/http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/site2/p_deputat?d_id=18153&skl=9 |date=4 March 2016 }}, Verkhovna Rada official website In the same election, Boryslav Bereza, Right Sector's chief of information, also won a seat as an independent candidate by winning a district in Kyiv with 29.44% of the votes. Bereza also did not join a faction.{{in lang|uk}} [http://gapp.rada.gov.ua/mps/info/page/18064 Bereza's profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208040325/http://gapp.rada.gov.ua/mps/info/page/18064 |date=8 February 2015 }}, Verkhovna Rada official website Right Sector did not take part in the October 2015 Ukrainian local elections.[http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_five_lessons_from_the_local_elections_in_ukraine4087 Five lessons from the local elections in Ukraine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220030923/https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_five_lessons_from_the_local_elections_in_ukraine4087/ |date=20 February 2022 }} by Andrew Wilson, European Council on Foreign Relations (29 October 2015)

On 10 July 2015, Ukrainian government forces clashed with Right Sector forces in the city of Mukacheve, located in Western Ukraine. Two people were killed and seven wounded. According to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko's parliamentary faction leader Yuriy Lutsenko, these events "result[ed from] the conflict of interests between illegal armed groups and a mafia overtly cooperating with law enforcers."{{Cite web|title = Yuriy Lutsenko: Mukacheve incident is a collision between mafia and militants|url = https://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yuriy-lutsenko-mukacheve-incident-collision-between-mafia-militants-393319.html|website = Kyiv Post|date = 13 July 2015|access-date = 4 August 2015|archive-date = 16 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150716215339/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yuriy-lutsenko-mukacheve-incident-collision-between-mafia-militants-393319.html|url-status = live}} Some local leaders indicated the conflict ensued when Right Sector forces attempted to clamp down on the lucrative illegal cigarette smuggling trade to Western Europe, in which local law enforcement have been complicit. Immediate fallout from the events included the sacking of the leadership of the local Zakarpatya district customs service. Ukrainian MP Mykhailo Lanyo, fingered in the smuggling ring, reportedly fled Ukraine.{{Cite web |title = Lanyo, involved in Mukacheve shooting, flees Ukraine due to MP immunity |url = http://www.unian.info/politics/1104728-lanyo-involved-in-mukacheve-shooting-flees-ukraine-due-to-mp-immunity.html |website = unian.info |date = 24 July 2015 |access-date = 4 August 2015 |archive-date = 1 August 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150801154049/http://www.unian.info/politics/1104728-lanyo-involved-in-mukacheve-shooting-flees-ukraine-due-to-mp-immunity.html |url-status = live }} Right Sector leader Yarosh called for calm, and denied that Right Sector troops were being withdrawn from eastern Ukraine.{{Cite web|title = Ukraine government in armed standoff with nationalist militia|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/ukraine-government-armed-standoff-right-sector-militia|website = The Guardian|access-date = 13 July 2015|first = Alec Luhn in|last = Moscow|date = 12 July 2015|archive-date = 14 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150714043715/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/ukraine-government-armed-standoff-right-sector-militia|url-status = live}}{{Cite web|title = Ukraine's security forces negotiating with holed up Right Sector fighters|url = http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-security-forces-negotiating-with-holed-up-right-sector-fighters-393354.html|website = Kyiv Post|date = 13 July 2015|access-date = 13 July 2015|archive-date = 14 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150714033314/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-security-forces-negotiating-with-holed-up-right-sector-fighters-393354.html|url-status = live}}{{Cite web|title = Right sector in Ukraine takes 6-year-old hostage – standoff with police|url = https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/right-sector-in-ukraine-takes-6-year-old-hostage-standoff-with-police|access-date = 13 July 2015|archive-date = 14 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150714003342/http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/right-sector-in-ukraine-takes-6-year-old-hostage-standoff-with-police|url-status = live}}{{Cite web|title = Four civilians, three policemen injured in shootout in Mukacheve, Ukrainian interior minister reports|url = http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/shootout-occurs-in-western-ukrainian-town-of-mukacheve-casualties-reported-393239.html|website = Kyiv Post|date = 11 July 2015|access-date = 13 July 2015|archive-date = 12 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150712183508/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/shootout-occurs-in-western-ukrainian-town-of-mukacheve-casualties-reported-393239.html|url-status = live}}

Yarosh resigned as Right Sector leader on 11 November 2015.[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/303058.html Yarosh quits as Right Sector leader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022313/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/303058.html |date=4 March 2016 }}, Interfax Ukraine (11 November 2015)
[http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/right-sector-chief-yarosh-resigns-cedes-leadership-role-of-group-401849.html Right Sector chief Yarosh resigns, cedes leadership role of group] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151111153736/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/right-sector-chief-yarosh-resigns-cedes-leadership-role-of-group-401849.html |date=11 November 2015 }}, Kyiv Post (11 November 2015) Late December 2015 he announced that he was forming a new political party that would start in February 2016.{{cite web|url=http://uatoday.tv/politics/national-group-leader-posts-youtube-message-says-he-will-create-new-national-liberation-movement-562518.html|title=UNIAN news. The latest news in Ukraine and worldwide|website=uatoday.tv|access-date=18 March 2018|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306035701/http://uatoday.tv/politics/national-group-leader-posts-youtube-message-says-he-will-create-new-national-liberation-movement-562518.html|url-status=live}} In February 2016 he started a new organisation called Governmental Initiative of Yarosh. The departure of Yarosh resulted in at least 20% of Right Sector members leaving with him. At a party congress of 19 March 2016, Andriy Tarasenko was elected chairman of Right Sector.[http://www.unian.info/politics/1298062-right-sector-declares-ambitious-plans-to-partake-in-elections.html Right Sector declares ambitious plans to partake in elections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404020339/http://www.unian.info/politics/1298062-right-sector-declares-ambitious-plans-to-partake-in-elections.html |date=4 April 2016 }}, UNIAN (23 March 2016)
{{in lang|uk}} [http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7102667/ "Right Sector" elected new chairman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330113902/http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7102667/ |date=30 March 2016 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 March 2016) Before Euromaidan, he and Yarosh were the leading figures of Trident (Tryzub). Tarasenko vowed in March 2016 that Right Sector would take part in all elections in Ukraine.

On 19 November 2018 Right Sector and fellow Ukrainian nationalist political organizations Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and C14 endorsed Ruslan Koshulynskyi's candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2018/11/19/7198643/ The nationalists have been identified with a presidential candidate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119151957/https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2018/11/19/7198643/ |date=19 November 2018 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 November 2018) In the election Koshulynskyi received 1.6% of the votes.[https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/zelenskiy-wins-first-round-but-that-s-not-the-surprise/ Zelenskiy wins first round but that's not the surprise] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005175139/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/zelenskiy-wins-first-round-but-that-s-not-the-surprise/ |date=5 October 2019 }}, Atlantic Council (4 April 2019)

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Right Sector joined a united party list with the political parties Svoboda, Governmental Initiative of Yarosh and National Corps.{{in lang|uk}} [https://m.glavcom.ua/country/politics/yarosh-tyagnibok-bileckiy-taki-sformuvali-jediniy-spisok-na-vibori-600508.html Yarosh, Tyagnibok and Biletsky have all formed a single list for the elections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220030917/https://glavcom.ua/country/politics/yarosh-tyagnibok-bileckiy-taki-sformuvali-jediniy-spisok-na-vibori-600508.html|date=20 February 2022}}, Glavcom (9 June 2019) Yarosh was placed third on this party list, while Tarasenko placed fourth. In the election, they won 2.15% of the votes, less than half of the 5% election threshold, and no parliamentary seats via the national party list.[https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-elections/2748306-cec-counts-100-percent-of-vote-in-ukraines-parliamentary-elections.html CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221101411/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-elections/2748306-cec-counts-100-percent-of-vote-in-ukraines-parliamentary-elections.html |date=21 December 2019 }}, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
{{in lang|ru}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2019/07/21/7221526/ Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191119194822/https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2019/07/21/7221526/ |date=19 November 2019 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (21 July 2019) The party did also not win a single-mandate constituency parliamentary seat.

In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections, the party gained three deputies (mathematically this was about 0.00% of all available mandates).{{cite web|title=Results of the 2020 Ukrainian local elections on the official web-server of the|url=https://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vm2020/pvm002pt001f01=695pt00_t001f01=695.html|work=Central Election Commission of Ukraine|access-date=12 January 2021|language=uk|archive-date=13 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113225301/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/wvm2015/pvm002pt001f01%3D100pt00_t001f01%3D100.html|url-status=live}}

On 2 November 2021, Yarosh said on social media he had been appointed Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.{{cn|date=September 2024}} In response to a (December 2021) request by Ukrayinska Pravda the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to disclose details of its alleged cooperation with Yarosh citing the confidentiality of the information requested. Prior to this request the (army) post of public advisers had been liquidated.{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2021/12/13/7317209/ The General Staff does not recognize the role of Yarosh. He inspected his volunteer army] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126163624/https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2021/12/13/7317209/ |date=26 January 2022 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (13 December 2021)

In January 2022, captain Dmytro Kotsiubailo "Da Vinci" was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine and decorated with the Order of the Golden Star for courage on the battlefield by the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/ukraines-far-right-warriors-set-for-war-with-russia-f335tvl8v |title=Ukraine's far-right warriors set for war with Russia |website=The Times |quote=By rights Dmytro Kotsyubaylo, nom de guerre Da Vinci, should be basking in glory. Last month the 26-year-old captain became the first living recipient serving in the ultra-nationalist Right Sector volunteer battalion to be awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by the country’s president. Photographs of him shaking hands with President Zelensky at the ceremony in the Ukrainian parliament, where he was also decorated with the Order of the Golden Star for courage on the battlefield, marked not just a moment of personal glory for him but a political rehabilitation for a unit mired in controversy since its formation.|last1=Avdiivka |first1=Anthony Loyd }}

On 13 March 2025, the former leader of Right Sector's Odesa Branch, Demyan Hanul, was assassinated in Odesa.{{cite web |last1=Zadorozhnyy |first1=Tim |title=Ukrainian activist Demyan Hanul shot dead in central Odesa |url=https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-activist-demyan-hanul-shot-dead-in-central-odesa/ |website=Kyiv Independent |access-date=14 March 2025}}{{Citeweb|url=https://odessa-journal.com/ukrainian-political-activist-was-shot-dead-in-the-centre-of-odessa|title=Ukrainian political activist was shot dead in the centre of Odessa|work=The Odessa Journal|accessdate=2025-05-08}}{{Relevant|date=March 2025}}

File:Yarosh meets Semenchenko.jpg commander Semen Semenchenko, 12 July 2014]]

Right Sector seized military weaponry from an Interior Ministry arsenal in western Ukraine, near Lviv, towards the end of the Maidan revolution. Right Sector delivered some weapons to Ukrainian authorities in the aftermath of the revolution, and kept others.{{cite news |last=Kramer |first=Andrew |title=Deadline is set for militias in uprising to surrender their illegal guns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/europe/ukraine-sets-deadline-for-militias-to-surrender-illegal-guns.html |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A12 |date=21 March 2014 |quote='It's not normal to ask people to hand in their weapons in the situation we have now,' Dmytro Yarosh, the leader of a right-wing paramilitary group, Right Sector, said in an interview…. |access-date=28 February 2017 |archive-date=22 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222224918/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/europe/ukraine-sets-deadline-for-militias-to-surrender-illegal-guns.html |url-status=live }} Following the collapse of the Yanukovych government, with police having largely abandoned the streets of Kyiv, groups of young men, including members of Right Sector, patrolled them armed mostly with baseball bats and sometimes with guns. According to Yarosh, Right Sector has recruited retired officers of the interior ministry and the security agencies. He told Newsweek that, "as in any army", it has specialists who are trained to use S-300 antiaircraft missiles. As of 2022, the group remains armed and operative; in an interview with Deutsche Welle in late 2015, Petro Poroshenko stated that Right Sector was going to be disarmed and taken out of operations in Donbas.{{cite news|last1=Brändlin|first1=Anne-Sophie|last2=Suyak|first2=Francis|date=11 November 2015|url=http://www.dw.com/en/petro-poroshenko-im-sure-about-the-unity-of-the-eu-and-its-solidarity-with-ukraine/a-18832626|url-status=live|title=Petro Poroshenko: 'I'm sure about the unity of the EU and its solidarity with Ukraine'|publisher=Deutsche Welle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405223228/http://www.dw.com/en/petro-poroshenko-im-sure-about-the-unity-of-the-eu-and-its-solidarity-with-ukraine/a-18832626|archive-date=5 April 2017|access-date=10 March 2022}}

{{main|Ukrainian Volunteer Corps}}

File:Voluntary Ukrainian Corps (DUK).jpg

Right Sector has its own volunteer battalion that is fighting in the war in Donbas, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps ({{Langx|uk|Добровольчий український корпус, ДУК|translit=Dobrovolʹchyy ukrayinsʹkyy korpus, DUK}}).{{cite news |date=11 August 2014 |title=Donbas battalion loses 4 in Ilovaisk assault |url=http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/donbas_battalion_loses_4_in_ilovaisk_assault_325120 |location=Kiev |agency=Ukrinform |quote=The anti-terrorist operation (ATO) forces … began to storm pro-Russian militants entrenched in Ilovaisk…. The assault began with the participation of the volunteer battalions Donbas, Azov, Shakhtarsk, and the Right Sector, … in conjunction with the ATO forces. |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-date=17 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817184359/http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/donbas_battalion_loses_4_in_ilovaisk_assault_325120 |url-status=live }} It was formed late April 2014. On 19 July 2014 Right Sector said it was ready to contribute 5,000 people to fight, if the military provided suitable combat equipment.{{cite news |date=19 July 2014 |title=Right Sector ready to send 5,000 people to east |url=http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/right_sector_ready_to_send_5000_people_to_east_323991 |location=Kiev |agency=Ukrinform |quote=Press Secretary … Skoropadsky said … 'We came to support actions of the President on holding the ATO [anti-terrorist operation]. But actually it is not well held. I saw that the volunteer battalions lack weapons. This is the most important requirement.' |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-date=8 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808104309/http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/right_sector_ready_to_send_5000_people_to_east_323991 |url-status=live }} Right Sector lost twelve fighters when ambushed outside Donetsk in August 2014. Yarosh, the group's leader, vowed his group would avenge the deaths.{{cite news |last1=Zinets |first1=Natalia |date=13 August 2014 |title=Twelve Ukrainian nationalist fighters killed in separatist ambush |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-sector-iduskbn0gd0kf20140813 |work=Reuters |access-date=5 July 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208151432/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-sector-iduskbn0gd0kf20140813 |url-status=live }} On 17 August 2014 Right Sector accused the Interior Ministry of harbouring counterrevolutionary forces seeking to destroy the Ukrainian volunteer movement.{{cite news |date=17 August 2014 |title=Ukraine crisis: Russian aid convoy arrives at border |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28825307 |work=BBC News |quote=The leader of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector threatened to withdraw volunteers] fighting on the government side. ... Yarosh said Right Sector would launch a 'campaign in Kyiv' if its demands ... were not met within 48 hours. |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721080235/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28825307 |url-status=live }} It said that Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov's followers among the police had illegally searched or detained dozens of Right Sector volunteers and confiscated weapons they had taken in combat.{{cite web |url=http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/08/17/letter-to-the-president-of-ukraine-from-the-right-sector-military-political-movement/ |title=Letter to the President of Ukraine from the Right Sector military-political movement |last1=Yarosh |first1=Dmytro |last2=Stempitskyy |first2=Andriy |date=17 August 2014 |website=Euromaidan Press |location=Kiev |quote=Starting with the destruction of our colleague Oleksandr Muzychka … there is a methodical game from the side of the police…. We demand the release of all detainees and the closing of all criminal proceedings against the soldiers of the Ukrainian Volunteer Right Sector Corps and other volunteer units…. |access-date=18 August 2014 |archive-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818004717/http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/08/17/letter-to-the-president-of-ukraine-from-the-right-sector-military-political-movement/ |url-status=live }} Interior Minister Arsen Avakov replied, saying that he had already submitted a request to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko that Yevdokimov be dismissed.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} Right Sector's military unit includes about fifty citizens of Russia and Belarus as of 2015.{{cite news |url= http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/foreigners-who-fight-and-die-for-ukraine-russians-join-ukrainians-to-battle-kremlin-in-donbas-386999.html |title= Foreigners Who Fight And Die For Ukraine: Russians join Ukrainians to battle Kremlin in Donbas |first=Oleg |last=Sukhov |work= Kyiv Post |date= 24 April 2015 |access-date= 24 April 2015 |archive-date= 27 April 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150427234735/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/foreigners-who-fight-and-die-for-ukraine-russians-join-ukrainians-to-battle-kremlin-in-donbas-386999.html |url-status= live }} Members come from all parts of Ukraine including the Donbas and Crimea, Russia and other former Soviet republics, and Western countries. In December 2015, group leader Dmytro Yarosh announced that the 5th and 8th battalions, and the medical battalion, would be incorporated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine following his departure from Right Sector. The DUK, if possible, would become part of the National Guard of Ukraine and will in the near future report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or would be incorporated into the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

When Yarosh left the Right Sector in December 2015, he took part of the DUK with him, forming the Ukrainian Volunteer Army ({{Langx|uk|Українська добровольча армія, УДА|translit=Ukrayinsʹka dobrovolʹcha armiya, UDA}}).

In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Right Sector volunteers fought in the Siege of Mariupol{{cite web |title=Ukraine: The critical fight for 'heart of this war' Mariupol |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61089043 |author=Tom Bateman |publisher=BBC |date=13 April 2022 |access-date=23 April 2022}} and Eastern Ukraine offensive. In the latter operation, Taras Bobanych, commander of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps's 2nd Separate Battalion, was killed near Izium.{{cite web |title=Ukraine buries its war dead |url=https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-buries-its-war-dead-idUSRTS76SE9 |work=Reuters |date=20 April 2022 |access-date=23 April 2022}} They were officially absorbed in the Ground Forces as special operations unit. In November 2022, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was reformed as the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade, and were training in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |last=Roussinos |first=Aris |date=17 June 2022 |title=On the frontline with the Right Sector militia |url=https://unherd.com/2022/06/on-the-frontline-with-the-right-sector-militia/ |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=UnHerd |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=10 June 2022 |title=Добровольчий український корпус. Виїзд на позиції у район Світлодарська. Репортаж УП {{!}} Українська правда |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2022/06/10/7351747/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610135053/https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2022/06/10/7351747/ |archive-date=10 June 2022 |access-date=25 July 2022}}{{Cite web |date=12 December 2022 |title=ДУК "Правий сектор" став 67-ю механізованою бригадою ЗСУ |url=https://novynarnia.com/2022/12/12/duk-pravyj-sektor-stav-67-yu-mehanizovanoyu-brygadoyu-zsu/ |access-date=21 December 2022 |website=novynarnia.com |language=uk}}

In 2024, the 67th Brigade was disbanded by the Ukrainian High Command and its soldiers were transferred to new units. One of the main reasons for the disbandment of the brigade was due to the unit losing some key positions in the fighting surrounding Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, where heavy fighting has been going on since early 2024.{{cite web |last=Axe |first=David |date=15 April 2024 |title=Robots Reinforce Ukraine's Most Vulnerable District As A Key Brigade Melts Down |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/04/15/robots-reinforce-ukraines-most-vulnerable-district-as-a-key-brigade-melts-down/ |access-date=15 April 2024 |website=Forbes}} One of the main issues, according to Ukrainska Pravda, within the brigade was that the leadership allegedly separated soldiers from the Right Sector from recruits who were transferred from other parts during recent replenishments. The attitude towards these recruits were that they typically saw combat first, despite their lack of experience - leading to the brigade losing territory.

File:Смолоскипний марш, Київ, 1.01.2015 (1).jpg on anniversary of the birthday of Stepan Bandera, 1 January 2015]]

The party's ideology is based on the Ukrainian national idea.{{cite web |url=http://pravyysektor.info/uncategorized/korotkyj-ideolohichno-vyhovnyj-kurs-dlya-vo-tryzub-im-s-bandery-ta-pravoho-sektora/|script-title=uk:Короткий ідеологічно-виховний курс для ВО "Тризуб" та "Правого сектора"|trans-title=Short ideologically-training course for VO "Tryzub" and "Right Sector"|language=uk|work=Right Sector website|date=27 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141130082321/http://pravyysektor.info/uncategorized/korotkyj-ideolohichno-vyhovnyj-kurs-dlya-vo-tryzub-im-s-bandery-ta-pravoho-sektora|archive-date=30 November 2014}} The party believes that idea of a nation is more broad than the concept of people as ethnos, yet nothing even close to the cosmopolitan concept of "political nation", with nation being a conscious and effective unity of people united around the idea of freedom that is based on ethno-social and spiritually cultural factors.

According to the party, Ukrainian nationalism is an ideology of national freedom, freedom of people, and person; an idea and cause in the name of Ukraine; an ideology of defense, preservation, and state assertion of the Ukrainian nation; and a philosophy of national existence. The main component of Right Sector's natiocentric outlook is natio-existential Shevchenko Thought, based on protection, development, and revival of the nation based on national imperative or absolute order. According to its literature, an idealistic worldview is intrinsic to Ukrainian nationalism.

Scholars Andreas Umland and Anton Shekhovtsov wrote in 2014 that Right Sector formed as a loose collection of small groups, outside parliament, that were ultraconservative and included a neo-Nazi fringe. In 2021 political scientists Daniel Odin Shaw and Huseyn Aliyev described Right Sector as ultranationalist, and described the paramilitary arm of Right Sector, the UDA, as holding a "generic form of Ukrainian ultranationalism", which allowed the inclusion of ethnic minorities, including Muslim Crimean Tatars and Chechens, and ethnic Jews, Poles, Hungarians, Greeks, and Romani.{{Cite journal |last1=Shaw |first1=Daniel Odin |last2=Aliyev |first2=Huseyn |date=29 November 2021 |title=The Frontlines Have Shifted: Explaining the Persistence of Pro-State Militias after Civil War |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |volume=47 |issue=8 |pages=817–837 |doi=10.1080/1057610X.2021.2009633 |s2cid=244783502 |issn=1057-610X|doi-access=free }}

Right Sector has been described in various ways by the media.{{Cite web |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20150904-ulraine-right-sector-pravyy-sektor-paramilitary-eastern-war-neo-nazi-patriots-revolutionnar |title=Patriots, ultra-nationalists, revolutionaries or fascists: The many faces of Ukraine's radical 'Right Sector' |website=france24.com |date=4 September 2015 |quote=Variously described as ultra-nationalist, even neo-fascist}} BBC News describes it as a "Ukrainian nationalist group" and an "umbrella organization of far-right groups",{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26841732 |title=Ukraine crisis: Kiev takes on far right |last=Stern |first=David |date=1 April 2014 |website=BBC News |quote=These [men and women] were members of the Right Sector: an umbrella organization of far-right groups…. |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=8 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108195440/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26841732 |url-status=live }} while Time has described it as a "radical right-wing group ... a coalition of militant ultra-nationalists", with an ideology that "borders on fascism". The New York Times has described it as a "nationalist group" and a "coalition of once-fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups". The Guardian has identified it as a "nationalist Ukrainian group",{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=20 April 2014 |title=Ukraine unrest: Russian outrage at fatal Sloviansk shooting |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/ukraine-agreement-falters-shoot-out-slavayansk |newspaper=The Guardian |quote=The foreign ministry in Moscow … blamed the clash on the Right Sector, a nationalist Ukrainian group… |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=25 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225200804/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/ukraine-agreement-falters-shoot-out-slavayansk |url-status=live }} Reuters as a "far-right nationalist group",{{cite news |last1=Balmforth |first1=Richard |date=1 April 2014 |title=Ukraine orders disarming of armed groups after shooting |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-sector-idUSBREA300NP20140401 |work=Reuters |quote=Police shut down the Kiev base of a far-right nationalist group… |access-date=5 July 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208154922/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-sector-idUSBREA300NP20140401 |url-status=live }} Agence France-Presse as a "far-right" group, and The Wall Street Journal as an "umbrella group for far-right activists and ultranationalists".{{cite news |last=Whalen |first=Jeanne |title=Protesters still hang out around Kiev 'Maidan,' hanging on to weapons too |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=10 April 2014 |url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304640104579487480605158494 |quote=They belong to many different factions, the most radical of which is Pravy Sektor, or Right Sector, an umbrella group for far-right activists and ultranationalists. |access-date=14 March 2017 |archive-date=22 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422042922/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304640104579487480605158494 |url-status=live }} Die Welt, The New York Times, and Le Monde diplomatique have described some of Right Sector's constituent groups as radical right-wing, neofascist, or neo-Nazi, but also that it distanced itself from antisemitism.{{cite news|last=Dreyfus|title=Ukraine Beyond Politics|first=Emmanuel|url=http://mondediplo.com/2014/03/02ukraine|access-date=6 March 2014|newspaper=Le Monde diplomatique|date=2 March 2014|quote=Pravy Sektor defines itself as "neither xenophobic nor anti-Semitic, as Kremlin propaganda claims" and above all as "nationalist, defending the values of white, Christian Europe against the loss of the nation and deregionalisation". Like Svoboda, it rejects multiculturalism… Svoboda's success over the past few years and the presence of neo-fascist groups such as Pravy Sektor in Independence Square are signs of a crisis in Ukrainian society. It is first and foremost a crisis of identity: in 22 years of independence, Ukraine has not managed to develop an unbiased historical narrative presenting a positive view of all its regions and citizens: even today, the Ukrainians are seen as liberators in Galicia but as fascists in Donbas.|archive-date=6 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306085234/http://mondediplo.com/2014/03/02ukraine|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Higgins|first=Andrew|title=Among Ukraine's Jews, the Bigger Worry Is Putin, Not Pogroms|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/world/europe/ukraines-jews-dismiss-claims-of-anti-semitism.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 April 2014|access-date=23 April 2014|quote="Even Right Sector, a coalition of ultranationalist and in some cases neo-Nazi organizations, has made an effort to distance itself from anti-Semitism."|archive-date=10 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910235827/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/world/europe/ukraines-jews-dismiss-claims-of-anti-semitism.html|url-status=live}} According to a publication in The Washington Post, "Operating in Ukraine are several nationalist paramilitary groups, such as the Azov movement and Right Sector, that espouse neo-Nazi ideology. While high-profile, they appear to have little public support. Only one far-right party, Svoboda, is represented in Ukraine's parliament, and it only holds one seat."{{Cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/putin-denazify-ukraine/ |title=Putin says he will 'denazify' Ukraine. Here's the history behind that claim. |website=washingtonpost.com |quote=}}

Writing for Foreign Policy, Hannah Kozlowska stated that Russian propaganda tried to demonize the Ukraine government and build a case for the annexation of Crimea by depicting Right Sector as a powerful neo-Nazi force bent on taking over the government. During the first half of 2014, Right Sector was the second-most mentioned political group in online Russian mass media. The Associated Press has called it a "radical ultranationalist group ... demonized by Russian state propaganda as fascists". The AP reported that it had found no evidence of hate crimes by the group.{{cite news|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/after-ukraine-protest-radical-group-eyes-power|title=After Ukraine protest, radical group eyes power|last=Danilova|first=Maria|date=14 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320045458/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/after-ukraine-protest-radical-group-eyes-power|archive-date=20 March 2014|url-status=dead|agency=Associated Press|quote=The radical ultranationalist group … [has been] demonized by Russian state propaganda as fascists and accused of staging attacks against Russian speakers and Jews.… The AP and other international news organizations have found no evidence of hate crimes.}} The Russian News & Information Agency has portrayed Right Sector as a "radical far right opposition group" and said that "Russian state media have tried to cast the demonstrations as a predominantly Fascism-inspired movement".{{cite news |date=7 March 2014 |title=Ukrainian nationalist targeted over alleged Chechnya atrocities |url=http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140307/188181583/Ukrainian-Nationalist-Targeted-Over-Alleged-Chechnya-Atrocities.html |location=Moscow |agency=RIA Novosti [Russian News & Information Agency] |quote=Muzychko is a coordinator for Pravy Sektor, the radical far right opposition group…. Russian state media has tried to cast the demonstrations as a predominantly Fascism-inspired movement. |access-date=25 April 2014 |archive-date=22 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422041651/http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140307/188181583/Ukrainian-Nationalist-Targeted-Over-Alleged-Chechnya-Atrocities.html |url-status=live }}

In an interview, Yarosh stated that Right Sector and Svoboda "have a lot of common positions when it comes to ideological questions," but that Right Sector "absolutely do[es]n't accept certain racist things they [Svoboda members] share."{{cite news |last1=Nayyem |first1=Mustafa |last2=Kovalenko |first2=Oksana |date=4 February 2014 |title=[Right Sector leader Dmitry Jarosz: When 80% of the country does not support the government, there cannot be a civil war] |url=http://williamrisch.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/dmytro-yarosh-leader-of-right-sector-when-80-of-the-country-does-not-support-the-regime-there-cant-be-a-civil-war/ |newspaper=Ukrayinska Pravda |quote='The Right Sector also includes Trident, UNA-UNSO and Carpathian Sich from Transcarpathia.' |access-date=5 May 2014 |archive-date=5 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505054052/http://williamrisch.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/dmytro-yarosh-leader-of-right-sector-when-80-of-the-country-does-not-support-the-regime-there-cant-be-a-civil-war/ |url-status=live }} Tarasenko cited Stepan Bandera, stating: "We are enemies to those saying that there [is] no Ukraine, or Ukrainians, or ... Ukrainian language."

According to journalist Oleg Shynkarenko, Yarosh has indicated that Right Sector opposes homosexuality and has also implied that the right of the nation trumps human rights. The New York Times has written that "Right Sector, a coalition of ultranationalist and in some cases neo-Nazi organizations," has attempted to distance itself from antisemitism, citing Yarosh's pledge to fight racism in Ukraine. According to Spiegel Online, Dmytro Yarosh has stated that antisemitism is not a part of Right Sector's ideology. Tarasenko has stated that the group has no "phobias", that it respects every other nation, and that it supports the nation state model.{{cite web |url=http://lenta.ru/articles/2014/03/10/pravysektor/ |script-title=ru:B0Мы — не вооруженные силы": Интервью с одним из лидеров украинского "Правого сектора" |last=Azar |first=Ilya |date=10 March 2014 |website=Lenta.ru |location=Moscow |language=ru |trans-title='We are not the armed forces': Interview with one of the leaders of the Ukrainian 'Right Sector' |quote=Nationalists from the fighting movement Right Sector … are depicted as neo-Nazis by Russian state TV channels.… The head of the Kyiv branch explained to Lenta.ru … how it intends to deal with the Russian army in case of military invasion.… 'We believe that people should be armed. As in Switzerland.…' |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-date=13 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913162225/http://lenta.ru/articles/2014/03/10/pravysektor/ |url-status=live }}

Right Sector's website says that its members distrust the "imperial ambitions" of both Russia and the West.{{cite news |last=Petro |first=Nicolai |date=3 March 2014 |title=Threat of Military Confrontation Grows in Ukraine |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/178619/threat-military-confrontation-grows-ukraine |magazine=The Nation |location=N.Y.C. |quote=Its members are critical of party politics and skeptical of the 'imperial ambitions' of both Moscow and the West. |access-date=6 March 2014 |archive-date=6 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306122052/http://www.thenation.com/article/178619/threat-military-confrontation-grows-ukraine |url-status=live }} Yarosh told Spiegel Online that anti-Christian organizations are in active operation in the European Union and that the European Commission, rather than the member nation, has control of lifestyles such as gay marriage.{{cite news |last1=Bidder |first1=Benjamin |last2=Klußmann |first2=Uwe |title=Practice for a Russian invasion: Ukrainian civilians take up arms |work=Der Spiegel |date=16 April 2014 |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/ukrainian-militias-prepare-for-possibility-of-russian-invasion-a-964628.html |quote=[The EC's power] is, he says, 'a variety of totalitarianism'. |access-date=7 June 2014 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128202501/https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/ukrainian-militias-prepare-for-possibility-of-russian-invasion-a-964628.html |url-status=live }} The authors note that Yarosh studied linguistics. See generally Webster's Third, s.v. "totalitarianism" ("1. Centralized control by an autocratic ... hierarchy regarded as infallible."). He does not see Europe or NATO as a potential partner and believes that they are part of a coalition against Ukraine.

Right Sector has the position that the population should keep and bear arms, as in Switzerland. Yarosh told The New York Times that the organization's lawyers were drafting a bill modeled on Swiss notions of firearms possession.

Historian and political scientist Andreas Umland labeled Right Sector as an ultra-Christian conservative and radical nationalist group. On 2 June 2015, the party sent an open letter to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko asking him to cancel a pride parade to be held two days later citing "danger of provocations".{{in lang|uk}} [http://kiev.pravda.com.ua/news/557044548db3a Klitschko asked not to carry out "March of Equality" in Kyiv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607061529/http://kiev.pravda.com.ua/news/557044548db3a/ |date=7 June 2015 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (4 June 2015) The letter also quoted Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk stating "Ukraine rejects the false values as gender ideology".[http://pravyysektor.info/news/zvernennya-do-mera-kyjeva-schodo-provedennya-tak-zvanoho-marshu-rivnosti A letter to the mayor of Kyiv to hold so-called "March of Equality"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607063522/http://pravyysektor.info/news/zvernennya-do-mera-kyjeva-schodo-provedennya-tak-zvanoho-marshu-rivnosti/ |date=7 June 2015 }}, Right Sector official website (2 June 2015) The letter also claimed Europeans still have an ambiguous attitude about "LGBT" stating "in Poland abortion is banned in general, not to mention same-sex marriages".

In a Facebook post on 6 June 2015, Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh claimed the gay pride parade "spit on the graves of those who died and defended Ukraine", and promised that the group's members will "put aside other business in order to prevent those who hate family, morality, and human nature, from executing their plans. We have other things to do, but we'll have to deal with this evil too."[http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/right-sector-threatens-kyiv-gay-pride-parade-390397.html Right Sector threatens Kyiv gay pride march] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606080149/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/right-sector-threatens-kyiv-gay-pride-parade-390397.html |date=6 June 2015 }}, Kyiv Post (6 June 2015) Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadskyi stated about the pride parade that "gay propaganda is destructive and doing harm to our Christian nation, we can't allow that". The pride parade was held, and during the march five policemen were injured in scuffles after unidentified people attacked the rally with smoke bombs and stones.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33034247 Ukraine police hurt at Kyiv gay pride rally] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210030840/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33034247 |date=10 February 2019 }}, BBC News (6 June 2015) Right Sector denounced the violence, and Skoropadskyi stated: "We can't beat weak persons like gays – that's a disgrace!"{{cite news|first1=Johannes Wamberg|last1=Andersen|author2=Olena Goncharova|author3=Stefan Huijboom|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/equal-rights-for-gays-still-distant-dream-in-ukraine-390865.html|title=Equal rights for gays still distant dream in Ukraine|newspaper=Kyiv Post|date=11 June 2015|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612034220/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/equal-rights-for-gays-still-distant-dream-in-ukraine-390865.html|archive-date=12 June 2015}}

Academic and media sources have described some of Right Sector's constituent groups as right-wing nationalist,{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Andrew |last2=Kramer |first2=Andrew |title=Converts join with militants in Kiev clash |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A1 |date=21 February 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/europe/protesters-join-fight-in-kiev-100-at-a-time.html |quote=Svoboda has at times clashed with … Right Sector, a coalition of a half-dozen hard-line nationalist groups that were once on the fringe, such as Patriots of Ukraine, Trident and White Hammer. |access-date=28 February 2017 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817121435/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/europe/protesters-join-fight-in-kiev-100-at-a-time.html |url-status=live }} ultranationalist,{{cite news|last=G.C.|title=Ukraine's protestors: Maidan on my mind|magazine=The Economist|location=London|date=15 February 2014|url=https://www.economist.com/blpogs/easternapproaches/2014/02/ukraines-protestors|quote="Some of [the Maidan] Samooborona's [Self-Defense's] more fearsome units ... belong to the Pravyy Sektor, which formed in November as a coalition of ultra-nationalist groups. It has an estimated 500–700 members ..."|access-date=13 July 2017|archive-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117160831/http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/02/ukraines-protestors|url-status=live}} neo-fascist, right-wing, far right,{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/7735531 |title=What do citizens of Ukraine actually think about secession? |author=Ivan Katchanovski |date=20 July 2014 |website=Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog |location=D.C. |quote=In trying to solve the conflict in Donbas, the Ukrainian government continues to rely on … special police battalions formed with the involvement of far-right parties and organizations, such as the Right Sector and the Social National Assembly. |access-date=2 December 2017 |archive-date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208182713/https://www.academia.edu/7735531 |url-status=live }} ultra-conservative, paramilitary, and including neo-Nazi elements. A plurality or majority of Right Sector's members belong to street fighting soccer-fan clubs,{{cite journal|last1=Way|first1=Lucan|title=Civil Society and Democratization|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=July 2014|volume=25|issue=3|pages=35–43|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/549494|via=Project MUSE|doi=10.1353/jod.2014.0042|s2cid=154948630|quote=It was only after the start of the protests that various small parties and factions of the far right joined to form Right Sector, which came to the fore in the second half of January, when protests turned violent ... Democracy is most directly undermined by the numerous associations promoting violence that emerged during the protests. Such associations include the Right Sector's paramilitary formations and the "heavenly hundreds" that arose to fight the police and the pro-Russian titushki or vigilante groups created to harass protesters. Also problematic are the "ultras," groups of hardcore soccer fans that began providing protection for anti-Yanukovych protesters in January. By promoting vigilante violence outside state control, such groups directly threaten democratic development. They facilitate state breakdown and bloody patterns of aggression and retribution, making civil war much more likely.|access-date=26 February 2019|archive-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060209/http://muse.jhu.edu/article/549494|url-status=live}} or have no specific affiliation.

Sich (Carpathian Sich, Карпатська Січ) is a Cossack battalion from Transcarpathia. Its name derives from the Ukrainian Cossack term for a command and administrative center.{{cite web |url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/202477/response/507828/attach/4/FOI%200315%2014%20Digest%20of%20Information.pdf |title=FOI 315-14. Digest of information: 'White Hammer' organisation, Ukraine |date=22 April 2014 |website=WhatDoTheyKnow |publisher=UK Citizens Online Democracy |location=London |quote=The Right Sector is said to be composed of 'Trident', 'UNA-UNSO', 'Sich' (Carpathian cossacks), 'White Hammer', 'Patriot of Ukraine' and other … far-right groups.… 11 members of 'White Hammer' … have recently been arrested in connection with their involvement in the murder of three traffic policemen … in early March. |access-date=30 May 2014 |archive-date=31 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531105536/https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/202477/response/507828/attach/4/FOI%200315%2014%20Digest%20of%20Information.pdf |url-status=live }}

{{main|Tryzub_(organization)|l1=Tryzub}}

Tryzub is a far-right Ukrainian paramilitary organization founded in 1993 by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (former Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists).{{cite journal|last=Likhachev|first=Viacheslav|title=Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise in Ukraine|journal=Russian Politics and Law|date=September–October 2013|volume=51|issue=5|pages=59–74|doi=10.2753/RUP1061-1940510503|s2cid=144614340|issn=1558-0962|quote=Other notable ultraright groups in Ukraine include the Trident named in honor of Stepan Bandera (based on the Congress of Ukrainian Na- tionalists)...}} Its full name is the Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization "Tryzub" and states that its main goal is to create a Ukrainian united independent state.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=August 2014}} According to Tryzub, its enemies in achieving this goal are ″imperialism and chauvinism, fascism and communism, cosmopolitanism and pseudo-nationalism, totalitarianism and anarchy, any evil that seeks to parasitize on the sweat and blood of Ukrainians″.{{cite web|url=http://banderivets.org.ua/deklaratsiya-nashyh-pryntsypiv.html|script-title=uk:Декларація наших принципів|publisher=Тризуб|language=uk|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140209110118/http://banderivets.org.ua/deklaratsiya-nashyh-pryntsypiv.html|archive-date = 9 February 2014}}

{{main|Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence}}

File:Київ - Революція Гідности - Прощання з Михайлом Жизневським - 14014649.jpg

The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA–UNSO) is a Ukrainian political organization perceived as far-right in Ukraine and abroad.{{Citation |first=Anita Inder |last=Singh |title=Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Security in Post-Communist Europe |publisher=Greenwood |year=2001 |page=114}}{{Citation |first1=Liudmila |last1=Dymerskaya-Tsigelman |first2=Leonid |last2=Finberg |title=Antisemitism of the Ukrainian Radical Nationalists: Ideology and Policy |journal=Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism |number=14 |publisher=Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism |year=1999}}{{Update inline|date=August 2014}} The faction supplied a volunteer battalion that in 1993 participated in the war in Abkhazia, which was depicted in a documentary film Shadows of War by Georgiy Gongadze. While the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) acted as the organization's legal political party-wing; on 22 May 2014 it merged into Right Sector. The UNA-UNSO continues to operate independently.

After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, many volunteers formed their own groups as territorial defense battalions; however, these battalions were legal parts of various Ukrainian security agencies, most of them serving under the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior. Their volunteers were required to follow orders of the commanders appointed to these agencies. In May 2014, the group became registered as a social organization under Ukrainian law.{{cite web|url=http://ipress.ua/ru/news/praviy_sektor_zaregystryrovan_kak_obshchestvennaya_organyzatsyya_a_ne_kak_polytycheskaya_partyya__gosreestr_65877.html|publisher=ipress|title="Right sector" is registered as a social organization and not as a political party|access-date=24 October 2014|archive-date=25 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025010228/http://ipress.ua/ru/news/praviy_sektor_zaregystryrovan_kak_obshchestvennaya_organyzatsyya_a_ne_kak_polytycheskaya_partyya__gosreestr_65877.html|url-status=live}} The status of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps is not official. In December 2021, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to disclose any details on cooperation with Yarosh, citing the confidentiality of the information requested.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140323210700/http://pravyysektor.info/ official site (in Ukrainian)]
• [http://sectorpravdy.com/en/ official site (English version)]
• [https://www.foi.se/download/18.2bc30cfb157f5e989c3181f/1477482863677/RUFS Briefing No. 27 .pdf Ukraine's volunteer battalions – advantages and challenge] article by Margaret Klein for Swedish Defence Research Agency

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