Ivan Katchanovski: “Not a single person is convicted or arrested for the Maidan massacre”
27.02.2023
Ivan Katchanovski is a Ukrainian-Canadian political scientist based in Ottawa. He teaches at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. E-mail: ikatchan@uottawa.ca
Authored books:
Cleft Countries: Regional Political Divisions and Cultures in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova. Ibidem-Verlag, 2006.
Nina Virchenko, Ivan Katchanovski, Viktor Haidey, Roman Andrushkiw and Roman Voronka (editors), Development of the Mathematical Ideas of Mykhailo Kravchuk (Krawtchouk). National Technical University of Ukraine, Kyiv and Shevchenko Scientific Society (USA), New York, 2004.
Seymour Martin Lipset and Noah M. Meltz, Rafael Gomez and Ivan Katchanovski The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, But Join Much Less. Cornell University Press, 2012.
Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, Myroslav Yurkevich, Historical Dictionary of Ukraine. Scarecrow Press, 2013.
Dear Prof. Katchanovski, the pretext of our interview is an upsetting case when two reviewers and an editor approved your article regarding the Maidan massacre, but the editorial board of an academic journal (you hide its name) rejected the publication by political reasons. Before to discuss that scandalous event I suggest to put it in a broader context: what a honest researcher should do in the current situation of Russian invasion into Ukraine, is it possible to criticize wrongdoings of Ukrainian politicians if the Russian propaganda will use them against Ukraine?
My research of the Maidan massacre is purely academic. Honest researchers cannot censor or falsify results of scholarly studies for any political reasons in order to cover up or whitewash mass murderers. The Maidan massacre is a major human rights violation and a case of political mass murder. Those oligarchic and far-right Maidan politicians, who were involved in the Maidan massacre of the protesters and the police, bear not only responsibility for this grave political crime but also significant responsibility for its extremely damaging consequences to Ukraine. It led to the overthrow of the Ukrainian government and ultimately led or contributed to the Russian annexation of Crimea, a civil war in Donbas, Russian military interventions in Crimea and Donbas, and international conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and the West and Russia. Russia drastically escalated these conflicts by invading Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian propaganda concerning the Maidan and this war is not based on research by scholars. Moreover, research by scholars, including my own academic studies, show that that claims of the Russian government and the media concerning the fascist coup in 2014, the neo-Nazi regime, and genocide in Ukraine are propaganda. I do not give interviews to the media in Russia. I refused before the Russian invasion to testify as an expert at the special meeting of the UN Security Council concerning the Maidan massacre in Ukraine.
As I wrote in my American[1] and Canadian[2] media publications before the war, the peaceful resolution of the civil war in Donbas and the Ukraine-Russia conflict was impossible without identifying and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Maidan massacre. This can also help achieve peaceful resolution of the Ukraine-Russia war and the proxy war between the West and Russia. At least the de facto backing by the US and other Western governments of the violent overthrow of the Ukrainian government by means of the Maidan massacre shows that the US and the West in general had a crucial role in the start of the conflict with Russia and is using Ukraine since the Maidan, in particular, during the current Ukraine war, as its client state or a proxy to contain and weaken Russia. The truth concerning the Maidan massacre could have saved Ukraine from the de facto break-up, the civil war, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the proxy war between the West and Russia.
You are one of the leading experts in the current Ukrainian politics, but I am not sure that many of Russian academics know your research of Maidan massacre. Could you provide a succinct report of it including your sources, methodology and main conclusions?
My studies concerning the Maidan massacre were presented at major academic conferences in the US, Sweden, and Canada and published as an article[3] by a US peer-reviewed journal and as a book chapter[4] by a major British academic press. My research combines content analysis of all publicly available videos, photos, and audio recordings of the Maidan massacre in English, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and other languages with analysis of several hundred testimonies concerning this massacre based on qualitative interviews methodology. It also examines revelations[5] from the Maidan massacre trial in Ukraine that is streamed on YouTube. Seven online video appendixes, which are posted on my YouTube channel[6], created for this study include brief relevant segments of videos of the massacre and testimonies of 51 wounded Maidan protesters and some 150 witnesses concerning the Maidan snipers.
My analysis[7] found that the Maidan massacre of the protestors and the police was a successful false flag operation, which was organized and conducted with involvement of oligarchic and far right elements of the Maidan opposition and snipers in order to overthrow the government and seize power in Ukraine. The evidence is overwhelming. Ten videos show Maidan snipers, in particular from a far-right-linked group, in the Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled buildings aiming or shooting at the Maidan protesters, and 8 videos show them aiming and shooting at the police. Synchronized videos demonstrate[8] that specific time and direction of shooting by the Berkut, whose members were charged with the massacre, did not coincide with killings of specific protesters. The absolute majority of wounded Maidan protesters testified at the trial and the investigation that they were shot by snipers from the Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled buildings and witnessed snipers there. There are several hundred witness testimonies and admissions by 14 self-admitted members of the Maidan sniper groups concerning Maidan snipers and involvement of specific Maidan leaders in this mass killing. Medical examinations by government forensic experts show that almost all protesters were shot from steep directions from sides or the back that match Maidan-controlled buildings while facing Berkut on the ground. Onsite investigative experiments with government forensic ballistic experts determined that many specific Maidan protesters were killed or wounded from Maidan-controlled buildings or areas. The Maidan government and the far right engaged in stonewalling of the investigations and trials and in cover-up of Maidan snipers.
The story of the “Sky hundred” played an important role in overthrowing the regime of Yanukovych. Could you tell how Maidan massacre is functioning in Ukrainian national memory through commemoration rituals, monuments, toponyms and so on? Is that memory still alive or is it expired?
The Maidan massacre is a key element of the politics of memory in Ukraine. While it is now superseded by the Russian invasion, it remains an important element. For this reason this crucial case of mass killing and its perpetrators and organizers are misrepresented in Ukraine. The Maidan massacre memorial under construction would literally cover-up and erase key evidence of the massacre. This is done deliberately in spite of protests from family members of the killed Maidan protesters.
Your findings contradict to the dominant narrative of Western media that snipers were proxies of Yanukovych. What response did your publications receive among a) specialists in Ukrainian studies, b) Western, Ukrainian and Russian media, c) Ukrainian prosecutors investigating the Maidan massacre?
There was varying response from scholars in Ukrainian studies. Some supported my study and its findings, while some others resorted to ad hominem attacks and attempts to censor my research for political reasons because they did not like what my research found and could not challenge its findings based on research and evidence.
While in his 2014 blog post, David Marples criticized my study, he since cited my studies of the Maidan massacre in his own academic publications[9]. He recently tweeted that he changed his views concerning the massacre as a result of my studies. Marples also recently wrote[10] that the Maidan massacre was carried out primarily by “snipers firing from the rooftops of nearby buildings” and that responsibility for it “remained unclear.”
My studies of the Maidan massacre have been cited[11], overwhelmingly favorably, by over 100 scholars and other experts, such as the last US ambassador in the Soviet Union, replicated in a book by the American political scientist Gordon Hahn, and corroborated by BBC and German investigative TV reports, as well as Italian, Israeli and U.S. TV documentaries. A number of major American, Danish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Swiss media outlets reported or cited my Maidan massacre studies findings, overwhelmingly favorably. But most of the mainstream Western media simply did not report my Maidan massacre studies and evidence that they revealed. This was done even though my research-based interviews, comments, and publications were reported by over 1,000 media in over 60 countries. And such major Western media as Associated Press, BBC News Ukrainian, Fox 9 News, France 24, France Télévisions, the Daily Beast, the Guardian, Reuters, the Radio Svoboda, Vice, the Voice of America, the Washington Post, ABC Radio, OpenDemocracy, Radio National, Sky News Australia, Canadian Press, CBC, CBC News, CBC Radio, CTV, CTV News, Global TV, Globe and Mail, La Presse, the National Post, Radio Canada International, and Yahoo News Canada reported my research concerning other conflicts and political violence in Ukraine.
I gave interviews concerning my Maidan massacre studies to several Ukrainian TV channels, including a number of interviews to Avers TV in my native Volyn Region. My interviews concerning my Maidan massacre research and reports about these studies were published by a number of Ukrainian newspapers and online media. In total, several dozen Ukrainian media of different political orientation reported concerning my Maidan massacre studies, overwhelmingly favorably. A similar number of the Russian media also reported concerning this research, even though I declined all requests for interviews for 8 years with two exceptions. However, most of the Ukrainian media simply did not report my Maidan massacre studies for political reasons.
The Ukrainian prosecutors stated that they examined my study during their investigation of the Maidan massacre. A publicly available video appendix of my study with testimonies of over 80 witnesses concerning Maidan snipers was accepted as evidence and shown at the Maidan massacre trial even though I was not involved in this trial. The fact that not a single person is convicted or arrested for the Maidan massacre of the protesters and the police is telling and revealing about the failure of the government investigation.
Could you tell the story how your article was recently rejected? Did you receive the support of your colleagues? How are you going to react to that shameful case of violation of freedom of academic research?
My Maidan massacre paper was initially accepted with minor revisions by the journal editor following peer review by two anonymous experts. The editor stated in the acceptance decision[12] that “the evidence that the study produces in favour of its interpretation on who was behind massacre of the protesters and the police during the “Euromaidan” mass protests on February 18-20, 2014, in Ukraine, is solid” and that “on this there is also consensus among the two reviewers." The reversal is extraordinary. In the email to the journal's editorial office, the editor who made the decision to accept my article, stated that he only learned that his decision was overturned from my tweet. He is Professor of International Relation in a British university. His email is another proof that the reversal of his decision by another editor was highly irregular and political. In the acceptance decision, this editor basically stated that rejecting my article would be based on politics and not its scholarly merits and its “solid evidence.”
After he learned about this decision, Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned American economist, wrote in his letter of support[13] for my appeal of this decision that this is “a very important, rigorous,” “substantial,” and “thoroughly documented” article “on a topic of great significance” and it “should be published for reasons of its excellence, rigor, and prior acceptance by the journal with minor revisions.” He also regarded this reversal as political.
I made the editor’s acceptance decision, its politically-motivated and outrageous reversal, and the letter of support from Jeffrey Sachs public on my Twitter. This story attracted a lot of interest. My tweet[14] had more than 300,000 views, and a number of American, British, and Dutch media outlets reported or in process of reporting about this act of political censorship and violation of academic freedom[15].
What are your academic plans?
I plan to publish my Maidan massacre study as another peer-reviewed article or as a book by a Western academic press. I also plan to publish a book concerning the Ukraine-Russia war and its origins. Another my book concerning Ukraine is under contract with a major academic press in the US.
Thank you for the interview!
[1] Katchanovski, Ivan. Lies About Ukraine Conflict Are Standing in the Way of a Peaceful Resolution. URL: https://truthout.org/articles/lies-about-ukraine-conflict-are-standing-in-the-way-of-a-peaceful-resolution/ [2] Katchanovski, Ivan. The hidden origin of the escalating Ukraine-Russia conflict. URL: https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-hidden-origin-of-the-escalating-ukraine-russia-conflict [3] Katchanovski, Ivan. The far right, the Euromaidan, and the Maidan massacre in Ukraine. Journal of Labor and Society. 2020. 23(1):5-29. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337947623_The_far_right_the_Euromaidan_and_the_Maidan_massacre_in_Ukraine [4] Katchanovski, Ivan. The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: A Summary of Analysis, Evidence and Findings. The Return of the Cold War: Ukraine, the West and Russia. Editors: Joseph Laurence Black, Michael Johns. London: Routledge, 2016. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280134889_The_Maidan_Massacre_in_Ukraine_A_Summary_of_Analysis_Evidence_and_Findings [5] Katchanovski, Ivan. The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: Revelations from Trials and Investigation. 10th World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies. Montreal, August 2021. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356691143_The_Maidan_Massacre_in_Ukraine_Revelations_from_Trials_and_Investigation [6] URL: https://www.youtube.com/@IvanKatchanovskiPhD [7] Katchanovski, Ivan. The "Snipers' Massacre" on the Maidan in Ukraine. Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association. San Francisco, September 2015. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266855828_The_Snipers%27_Massacre_on_the_Maidan_in_Ukraine [8] Katchanovski, Ivan. The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: Revelations from Trials and Investigation. 10th World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies. Montreal, August 2021. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356691143_The_Maidan_Massacre_in_Ukraine_Revelations_from_Trials_and_Investigation [9] Marples, David R. Russia's perceptions of Ukraine: Euromaidan and historical conflicts. European Politics and Society. 2016. 17(4): 424-437. URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23745118.2016.1154129 [10] Marples, David R. The Maidan Revolution in Ukraine. E-international Relations. 2020. 1 July. URL: https://www.e-ir.info/2020/07/01/the-maidan-revolution-in-ukraine/ [11] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PtRnfFQAAAAJ&hl=en [12] https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1611196287122116609 [13] https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1611201789893697537 [14] https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1611196287122116609 [15] Noah, Carl. Maidan Massacre Study Accepted and Then Rejected by Journal. URL: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/09/maidan-massacre-study-accepted-and-then-rejected-by-journal/?fbclid=IwAR0nOgN-mfc4TNpfqxp8g25rCZbYJ1Ms8WXfjAjCC_hMYZWKbHEKLRGuG_A; Eric van de Beek. Regering Kiev en westen negeren ware toedracht Maidan-bloedbad. URL: https://www.deanderekrant.nl/nieuws/regering-kiev-en-westen-negeren-ware-toedracht-maidan-bloedbad-2023-01-31?fbclid=IwAR3XBTSwjbkVczfoTcZ-0v0k77rnOazCI80FaIjpHLh_EXo65XwjLmc9RUI