The militsiya () in Ukraine was a type of domestic law enforcement agency (militsiya) from 1919 until 2015. The militsiya was originally formed while Ukraine was governed by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union, and it continued to serve as a national police service in post-Soviet Ukraine until it was replaced by the National Police of Ukraine on 7 November 2015. The militsiya was under the direct control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (known by the Ukrainian acronym MVS and by the Russian acronym MVD), and it was widely seen as corrupt and inconsiderable to the demands of the Ukrainian public. During Euromaidan, the Militsiya was accused of brutality against protestors as well as kidnapping Automaidan activists, leading to the reputation of the Militsiya being irreversibly damaged. This resulted in its replacement under the post-Maidan Poroshenko presidency.
History
Militsiya in Soviet Ukraine
The contemporary Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine originates from the Soviet NKVD's branch in Ukrainian SSR - the "NKVD of the UkrSSR", which was later reformed into the "Ministry of Internal Affairs of UkrSSR" (). Both agencies were merely a regional branch of the all-Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, and essentially a militsiya force since the late 1950s.
Despite some operational autonomy, all regulations and standards of policing were established by the central Ministry; Moscow was directly co-ordinating important operations in Ukraine (such as anti-corruption investigations regarding statesmen of higher levels or other politics-related issues), including deployment of detective brigades from central offices in case of need. The Militsiya of the Ukrainian SSR used the same ranks, insignia and vehicle liveries as the rest of the Soviet militsiya.
Like all the Soviet Ministries of Internal Affairs, the Ukrainian SSR MVS included not only the militsiya, but also the republican branch of non-police services, such as: Passport and registration offices Internal Troops and prison administration (including the Chief Directorate of Camps) Fire and rescue service
Militsiya and political repression in Soviet Ukraine
MVS of the Ukrainian SSR has been directly involved in Soviet political repressions in Ukraine at all stages. Since the splitting of the NKVD and detachment of the secret police to the MGB-KGB, the militsiya became a secondary instrument of repression in the hands of the KGB, fulfilling such tasks as: conducting fabricated charges of non-political crimes against Ukrainian dissidents (like Vyacheslav Chornovil) tackling occasional mass protests against Soviet rule maintaining the propiska regime participation in ethnic-related repressions and restrictions assisting in the persecution of religion direct persecution of homosexuals and various restricted cultural movements (like rockers, punks, bikers, karate students etc.)
Militsiya in independent Ukraine
Post-Independence reformation and the Gongadze case
After independence in 1991, and before the 2004 Constitutional Reform, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs was directly subordinate to the President of Ukraine (appointed by the President unilaterally), also a formal member of Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers. Before the Orange Revolution, only Generals of the militsiya (not civil statesmen), were appointed Ministers.
During its existence, the Ukrainian militsiya, particularly the post-independence form of the militsiya, had a significant record of law violation and human rights abuse. One of the most notorious cases of human rights abuse, before the agency’s later involvement in Euromaidan in 2013-2014, was the agency's involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000. Soon after Gongadze's disappearance, recordings of a Major Melnychenko were revealed.
A fragment of the recorded conversations portrayed MVS Minister Kravchenko promising President Kuchma to "take care" of the oppositional journalist. According to the recordings, Kravchenko told Kuchma that he controls a special group of high-class detectives "without any morals, and ready to do anything".
The decapitated and disfigured body of Gongadze was found later in a forest, and a long-lasting investigation started. In 2005, soon after the Orange Revolution, the first results of the case appeared. Three members of the MVS detective squad were charged with the abduction and murder of Gongadze. An international warrant was issued for their chief, General Oleksiy Pukach, who was supposedly hiding abroad.