March 8, 2024 (EIRNS)—Anatoly Shariy, a popular Ukrainian activist, journalist and political leader, living in exile, whose outspoken attacks against neo-Nazis and corruption in Ukraine forced him to seek European Union asylum 14 years ago, has warned that he and his wife were the subject of a murder attempt in broad daylight on March 6 close to their home in Tarragona, Spain, but Spanish police have refused to do anything about it.
The reported attempt occurred less than a week after the Ukrainian Presidency’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) put out the word publicly that “some Ukrainian `bloggers’ who fled abroad and who regularly voice narratives to discredit the army and the military and political leadership of the country” had to be dealt with. CCD head Lt. Andriy Kovalenko charged that the opposition bloggers were part of the alleged Russian special operation dubbed “Maidan 3,” with the bloggers’ role being to “to kill the faith of Ukrainians in the [Armed Forces of Ukraine] AFU and to strengthen the voices calling for peace at any cost.” Kovalenko added: “Such a scenario is unacceptable.”
The Zelenskyy regime is desperate to silence Shariy, who has maintained an active following inside Ukraine and in the diaspora through his YouTube channel, which has almost 2.9 million subscribers. The regime banned his political party in 2022 and (unsuccessfully) sought his extradition to Ukraine to face “treason” charges. The notorious Myrotvorets hit list has a lengthy entry on him which has been updated several times.
Shariy and his wife Olga reported to Spain’s El Diario that they were driving close to their home near Tarragona, southwest of Barcelona, when a man stepped in front of their car pointing a machine gun at the window, with an accomplice apparently waiting nearby. Shariy added in a video message reported by Meduza, that less than a week before he had given the Spanish police information he had received about a planned assassination against him, which even included the name of “a specific person who was in touch with people connected to those placing the hit.” Yet when Shariy called police immediately after the attempt was made, police took no measures to catch the perpetrators or interview witnesses.
According to El Diario, the Shariys have faced “threats and harassment” ever since “neo-Nazi groups” from Ukraine discovered their location. Last October, someone threw Molotov cocktails at their home.
