Berkut (special police force)

The Berkut (Бе́ркут, "golden eagle"; Бе́ркут, Byerkut) was the Ukrainian system of special police (riot police) of the Ukrainian Militsiya within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The agency was formed in 1992, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as the successor to the Ukrainian SSR's OMON. Initially specialized in fighting organized crime, Berkut transitioned into a gendarmerie used by the Ukrainian Militsiya for public security, operating semi-autonomously at the local or regional level. The term "Berkut" came to be used for any professional special police unit in Ukraine. Prior to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the Berkut had a history of illegal activities against Ukrainian citizens, such as racketeering, terrorism, physical violence, torture, anti-Ukrainian sentiment, voter intimidation and other secret police tactics against those who would elect non-Yanukovych candidates, and violence against protesters during Euromaidan and the Orange Revolution. The new government held the Berkut responsible for most of the Heavenly Hundred civilian deaths. Acting Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov signed a decree that dissolved the agency, which was replaced with the National Guard of Ukraine. In March 2014, Berkut units stationed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol defected to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs during the annexation of Crimea by Russia, after the territories were approved as federal subjects. Berkut effectively became an agency of Russia when units were allowed to preserve their old name, and now serve within the National Guard of Russia as the gendarmerie for Crimea. Berkut means golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in the Ukrainian language, referring to a raptor historically associated with falconry on larger mammals, particularly foxes. It is probably a Turkic loanword, compare Chagatai (börküt), Kazakh "бүркіт" (bürkit), Tatar "бөркет" (bөrket), Bashkir "бөркөт" (börköt), Kyrgyz "бүркүт" (bürküt), Uzbek "burgut".