East Ukraine War: Fears Grow As Right Sector Leader Dmytro Yarosh Wants To Begin 'New Phase' Of Ukrainian Revolution

Fears are growing among troops in Ukraine that members of the Right Sector, the far-right group that grew from the militant protesters who toppled former President Viktor Yanukovych, could turn on the new government.

“We are an organized revolutionary force that is opening the new phase of the Ukrainian revolution,” Dmytro Yarosh, Right Sector’s leader, said during a rally last month in Kiev. The rally hosted up to 5,000 Right Sector activists, the Financial Times reported.

The rally was held because activists were angry over what they say is President Petro Poroshenko’s “slow progress in fighting corruption and excessive concessions to Moscow as it attempts to reach a settlement over eastern Ukraine,” the Financial Times said.

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was withdrawn from Interpol’s "most wanted" list in July, following complaints from his legal representatives that the criminal charges brought against him were politically motivated. The controversial former leader stood down from power in the aftermath of civil unrest in February 2014 and has been wanted since January 2015.

Yanukovych had what’s known as a Red Notice against his name for “misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by malversation,” the old charges claimed.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called on Russia this week to come to “real negotiations” about a ceasefire in the country’s war-torn east, Klimkin told The Associated Press. Russia’s military and special forces are “in full command” in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Klimkin said.

Pro-Russian separatist rebels began fighting government forces in April 2014, a conflict that has since claimed more than 6,400 lives, The Associated Press said. Since then, the government has had no control over parts of eastern Ukraine.

However, Ukraine is committed to undertake major reforms "to fully depart from this post-Soviet reality," including tackling corruption and decentralizing the country with the goal of joining the European Union and becoming part of "the European family," Klimkin said. "A democratic and European Ukraine is a nightmare for Russia."