Belarusian ex-political prisoner may face prison term for attack on Russia's bank in Ukraine
Belarusian-born Vasil Parfyankou, who recently received Ukrainian citizenship, might have participated in attacking a department of Russia’s Alfa-Bank in Kyiv.
A video that has appeared on web over the past day shows uniformed and masked men breaking glass and furniture in the bank. An attacker, who resembles Parfyankou very closely, hit a palm tree with a metal wire and then destroyed it with his foot.
Vasil Parfyankou is a f ighter of OUN Volunteer Corps (‘The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists’).
His commander Mykola Kohanivski promised to set fire to the institutions tied to Russian banks if the Belarusian is not released,.
“Vasil committed no robbery, he acted on the orders of his commander – me. I took responsibility for this action,” he told RFE/RL.
The OUN publicly announced a campaign of destroying Russian business in Kyiv.
According to the plan, the men of his unit destroyed the office of tycoon Rinat Akhmetov, the department of Alfa-Bank and broke windows at the office of Russia’s Sberbank, Kokhanivski stated.
“In this way, we announced a protest against institutions that make money on the blood of Ukrainians. It turns out that we are at war with Russia, but Russia is here to make money! This is unacceptable. We officially announced the action and carried out our promise. Vasil was an active participant in the action. Yesterday, he was arrested. We, OUN Volunteer Corps, will fight for him. My statement is to be spread today. We will continue to fight for our brother. And we will release him without fail,” he said.
Vasil Parfyankou is the only person who was detained over the attacks. He may face up to four years in prison.
