Kiev tightens security after shootings of pro-Russians

Ukraine's prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk called on law enforcement bodies on Friday to strengthen security measures after a prominent journalist and former lawmaker both considered pro-Russian were gunned down in Kiev within 24 hours.

The journalist, Oles Buzyna, was killed in a drive-by shooting by masked gunmen on Thursday, only hours after Oleg Kalashnikov, a former ally of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, was shot dead in similar fashion.

Although the Ukrainian capital is hundreds of miles from the battles still simmering in east Ukraine, the contract-style killings deepened anxiety among its 3m residents. Kiev residents have already been unsettled by a spate of bomb threats that shut down metro stations for hours in recent days.

The killings also followed a series of mysterious deaths among former associates of Mr Yanukovich - including the former president's son - several of which were deemed to be suicides.

Senior Ukrainian officials denounced this week's shootings, while the US State Department condemned the killings and called for a full investigation. Mr Yatseniuk warned of "manifestations of terrorism and separatism" in the country.

But in a sign of how low trust has sunk between Kiev and Moscow, some Ukrainian politicians and analysts speculated that the shootings could be Russian-organised provocations designed to destabilise Ukraine.

Some noted that the shooting of Mr Buzyna occurred shortly before Vladimir Putin went on air for a four-hour annual TV phone-in. The Russian president condemned the killings during his broadcast, calling them politically motivated assassinations.

Many Ukrainians also blame Russia or Russian-backed forces for a series of terrorist bomb explosions in recent months in Russian-speaking cities stretching from Kharkiv in the east to the Black Sea port of Odessa. Though the incidents caused only a handful of fatalities, they have fanned an atmosphere of fear.

Kiev security agencies have arrested dozens of suspects alleged to have played a role in the bombings. Moscow has vigorously denied any involvement.

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A prominent political analyst in Kiev said on Friday he had received an email purporting to be from a group of self-proclaimed nationalists, claiming responsibility for the Buzyna and Kalashnikov murders. The group threatened to kill more "pro-Russians and betrayers of Ukraine's interests" unless they left the country within 72 hours.

The group called itself the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a name used by second world war nationalist fighters long demonised by Moscow. It also claimed responsibility for the previous deaths of Yanukovich associates.

But Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, raised doubt over the email, saying it contained an inaccurate account of Mr Kalashnikov's murder, and suggested it was a further "provocation".

Mr Gerashchenko said investigators suspected the "murders were organised by Russian intelligence agencies to create an atmosphere of terror and hysteria in Kiev".

Without directly implicating Moscow, Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's pro-western president, on Thursday described the killings as acts that "played into the hands of our enemies".

"[They are] aimed at destabilising the internal political situation in Ukraine, at discrediting the political choice of the Ukrainian people," Mr Poroshenko said.

Kiev pundits fear the Kremlin could use the murders to bolster the Russian media narrative that far-right nationalists played a big role in toppling Mr Yanukovich 14 months ago and propelling the new pro-western leadership to power, and are now engaged in political pogroms.

They add that the murders could provoke fresh confrontations between Ukrainians favouring closer Russian ties and those backing further EU integration, ahead of big celebrations planned by Russia on May 9 of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.

"The situation is really difficult," Mr Yatseniuk said. "There is no doubt that anti-Ukrainian forces will try to exploit the 70th anniversary of the end of second world war and May holidays to destabilise the situation," he added.

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