The Revolution of Dignity and De-Communization of Ukraine

The Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych, the overthrow of the Ukrainian government, and the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War. In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. In February of that year, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU. Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. These protests continued for months; their scope widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov Government. Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption and abuse of power, the influence of oligarchs, police brutality, and violation of human rights in Ukraine. Repressive anti-protest laws fuelled further anger.

A large, barricaded protest camp occupied Independence Square in central Kyiv throughout the 'Maidan Uprising'.

In January and February 2014, clashes in Kyiv between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the deaths of 108 protesters and 13 police officers, and the wounding of many others.

The first protesters were killed in fierce clashes with police on Hrushevskoho Street on 19–22 January. Following this, protesters occupied government buildings throughout the country. The deadliest clashes were on 18–20 February, which saw the most severe violence in Ukraine since it regained independence. Thousands of protesters advanced towards parliament, led by activists with shields and helmets, and were fired on by police snipers. On 21 February, an agreement between President Yanukovych and the leaders of the parliamentary opposition was signed that called for the formation of an interim unity government, constitutional reforms and early elections. The following day, police withdrew from central Kyiv, which came under effective control of the protesters. Yanukovych fled the city. That day, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office by 328 to 0 (72.8% of the parliament's 450 members).

Yanukovych alleged that this vote was illegal and possibly coerced, and asked Russia for help.

Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup, and did not recognize the interim government. Immediately after, the Russo-Ukrainian War erupted, with a Russian military intervention, the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the eruption of pro-Russian unrest throughout Ukraine, especially in the southern and eastern regions of the country. During the pro-Russian unrest, widespread protests, both for and against the revolution, occurred in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Yanukovych previously received strong support in the 2010 presidential election. “Pro-Maidan” and “Anti-Maidan” rallies soon clashed with each other and escalated into violence such as the 2014 Odesa clashes, with the violence at its worst in the Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists seized control of government buildings and proclaimed the creation of self-proclaimed breakaway states in Donetsk and Luhansk, sparking the Donbas War (forming part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War). Eventually, by 2022, the Russo-Ukrainian War culminated with Russia initiating a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The interim government, led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed the EU association agreement and disbanded the Berkut. Petro Poroshenko became president after a victory in the 2014 presidential elections (54.7% of the votes cast in the first round). The new government restored the 2004 amendments to the Ukrainian constitution that had been controversially repealed as unconstitutional in 2010, and initiated a removal of civil servants associated with the overthrown regime. 

There was also a widespread decommunization of the country.

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raids:

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU):  (is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian government, in the areas of counter-intelligence activity and combating terrorism. The Constitution of Ukraine defines the SBU as a military formation, and its staff are considered military personnel with ranks. It is subordinated directly under the authority of the president of Ukraine. The SBU also operates its own special forces unit, the Alpha Group.

The SBU is the successor of the Ukrainian branch of the Soviet KGB, created after the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991. The agency was negatively seen by the Ukrainian public, as they were widely regarded as corrupt and were for conducting arrests and intimidations of political dissidents. After the Revolution of Dignity, the SBU went through a restructuring with the transition to the new government, as the agency was rife with corruption and infiltration by the Russian intelligence services. The SBU has since been involved in operations against Russia and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas after the start of the War in Donbas and the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.

The SBU has carried out raids across the country targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) churches and interrogated priests of the Moscow Patriarchy in November and December 2018, accusing them of being agents of the Russian government.  According to Metropolitan Pavel, "There is a pressure on me personally, threats are being heard, all sorts of attacks not only on me, but also on other bishops and priests. For what reason I do not know."

The general structure and operational methods of SBU appear to be very similar to that of its predecessor (KGB of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) with exception of Ukrainian Border Guards and department responsible for security of high-rank state officials. Both of them became independent institutions. However, the SBU keeps under its control special operation Alpha units with bases in every Ukrainian province. According to British political expert Taras Kuzio the organizational structure of SBU remains bloated in size compared to its predecessor, the Soviet Ukrainian KGB, because the total number of active officers is as high as 30,000 personnel. It is six times larger than the British domestic MI5 and external MI6 combined.

Special Group "Alpha" 

Is an elite Ukrainian Spetsnaz group, branch of the Security Service of Ukraine; and a successor of the Soviet Union's Alpha Group. Group Alpha is one of the top divisions of the special forces of Ukraine. At the time, other, more offensive special forces of the KGB included the groups Zenit and Kaskad/Omega. Another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war.

The SBU Alfa defector Alexander Khodakovsky, a former Alfa commander for Donetsk Oblast who has deserted from Ukrainian service along with several of his men following the revolution, became the commander of the rebel Vostok Battalion and later was given the post of security minister of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic.

In February 2018, two members of the Committee and of the Communist Party were attacked by Right Sector activists: It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several radical nationalist organizations at the Euromaidan revolt in Kyiv, where its street fighters participated in clashes with riot police. The coalition became a political party on 22 March 2014, at which time it claimed to have roughly 10,000 members.

In March 2022, the Morning Star reported that two activists in the Committee, Mikhail Kononovich (leader of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine, and his brother, Aleksander Kononovich, who had previously been attacked by National Corps/C14 activists, were arrested by the Ukrainian security service, the SBU on charges of “pro-Russian views and pro-Belarusian views"; the Greek Communist Party raised their case in the European Parliament.