Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says he has ordered his military to find and bring to justice those accused of taking threatening actions against Jews in the eastern part of Ukraine.
“I made a clear statement urged Ukrainian military and security forces and Ukrainian Department of Homeland Security urgently to find these bastards and to bring them to justice,” the prime minister said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” to air Sunday.
{mosads}This week, Jews reported receiving flyers from pro-Russian militants ordering them to register with the interim government — an eery throwback to tactics under the Nazi occupation. Militants denied issuing the document and have themselves accused Ukraine’s new government of being anti-Semites.
President Obama and U.S. lawmakers have denounced the reported actions.
Yatsenyuk told “Meet the Press” that he fears Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on restoring the Soviet Union.
“President Putin has a dream to restore the Soviet Union. And every day, he goes further and further. And God knows where is the final destination,” he said, according to a transcript released by NBC on Saturday.
“I consider that the biggest disaster of this century would be the restoring of the Soviet Union under the auspices of President Putin,” he added.