Ukraine police shoot dead paramilitary crime suspect wanted by Russians

The death of an ultra-nationalist in Ukraine highlights the continuing internal and international forces challenging the authorities.

Alexander Muzychko was killed in a shoot-out, according to the Interior Ministry in Kyiv, in Rivne, western Ukraine.

The ministry said he resisted arrest in a police operation connected with an organised crime investigation. Three men with him were taken in.

Videos posted on YouTube show Muzychko brandishing a Kalashnikov rifle at a meeting with municipal councillors and of him hitting a state prosecutor.

He was also on Moscow’s most-wanted criminal list for actions with Chechen warlords against Russian servicemen in the mid-1990s.

Far right groups were key participants in organised violence in the Maidan anti-government protests earlier this year.

Muzychko was head of the paramilitary far right movement in Ukraine: Pravy Sektor.