MVD: Fake Riots With Prop Blood Were Being Prepared Near Presidential Office

Law enforcement officers detained people who were preparing rallies and protests.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers said they prevented provocations involving mass riots and violence against police during rallies in several Ukrainian cities. 

The first rally was supposed to take place in Kyiv, under the Presidential Office, as early as January 31. 

Denys Monastyrskyi
Minister of Internal Affairs

It was a rally of up to 5,000 people, which was planned specifically to rock and destabilize the situation in Ukraine. Unfortunately, paid rallies are quite common in our country, and this is not the first paid rally, but this particular rally was aimed from the very beginning at unbalancing the domestic political situation and at violence against law enforcement officers and other people taking part in the rally. This was only the first of a whole series of planned rallies. This is clearly recorded on video and audio recordings, some of which you will see today.

According to him, these rallies were planned to be held in several Ukrainian cities, in particular in central Ukraine: the Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava and Cherkasy regions. 

"That is, regions that are in fact an hour and a half's drive from Kyiv and from our northern border with the Russian Federation," the interior minister noted. 

Monastyrskyi said that in 2014, Russians also staged rallies in Luhansk, Donetsk and Crimea involving pseudo-activists who provoked violence and incited other citizens. 

Denys Monastyrskyi
Minister of Internal Affairs

One of the scenarios of aggression against Ukraine is paid mass violent rallies. This can be used as an element of hybrid war. Yesterday a group of people planning mass riots in the center of the capital was detained in Kyiv. Up to 5,000 people were to be gathered, of whom up to 1,500 were to be "titushky" who were to start fights with law enforcement officers. There had to be violence among rally participants, blood had to be shed. Prop blood had also been prepared. A group of "medics" was assembled to attest to the "injuries" of the pseudo-activists, so that it would be shown on all channels. Plans included setting tires on fire, using fire extinguishers and fireworks. 

National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said that a non-peaceful rally was supposed to begin in Kyiv on the morning of January 31. No application had been filed for it; only at 9:00 was an application for a rally with 500 participants due to be submitted. 

According to him, on January 30 the National Police "detained people who were preparing rallies and protests near the Presidential Office, during which there were supposed to be harsh confrontations and violent clashes with law enforcement officers." 

The organizer and his accomplice were detained; they are citizens of Ukraine. Law enforcement officers are investigating the organizer's links with the so-called DPR and LPR and with Russian special services. Investigators are serving the organizer and his assistant with notices of suspicion and will request their arrest. 

Ihor Klymenko
Head of the National Police

The organizer, together with his assistants, was looking for Ukrainians who, for money, were ready to help organize and hold these rallies. And the first such rally was supposed to take place today. 

Klymenko noted that the pseudo-rally was supposed to be started by speakers calling on a representative of the Presidential Office to come out to the protesters. Then, according to the plan, the participants of the "rally" were to start "pushing" law enforcement officers, after which clashes would begin. 

An actor among the participants of the "rally" was supposed to pretend to be wounded (prop blood was to be brought for this), while others (in medical gowns) were to pretend to resuscitate him. 

More than 5,000 people were to be brought to the January 31 rally, of whom up to 2,000 were extras and 1,000 were "titushky". Extras were to receive from 800 hryvnias, titushky from 1,200, and $2,500 each for setting tires on fire and fireworks. 

The National Police chief said the events near the Verkhovna Rada on January 25, where 18 law enforcement officers were injured and a "dead" man turned out to be alive, were taken as the basis for the rally. They wanted to apply the "sacred victim technology". 

According to him, in February the conspirators planned to hold a series of provocative rallies in four regional centers of Ukraine. 

Law enforcement officers reported that the organizers had already received 1 million hryvnias to hold the rally. Klymenko said police know which bank gave them that much cash. 

The organizers counted on 1,000 people taking part in the pseudo-rally. Law enforcement officers showed a video as evidence of the preparation of the "spectacle". 

In the video, the likely organizers speak in Russian. The rally was supposed to start on January 31 at 10:30 and continue with a "crush". "Bonus: 2,500" for acting and "70 grand for the wheels" are mentioned in the video.