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.

It is probably a Turkic loanword, compare Chagatai (börküt), Kazakh "бүркіт" (bürkit), Tatar "бөркет" (bөrket), Bashkir "бөркөт" (börköt), Kyrgyz "бүркүт" (bürküt), Uzbek "burgut".

Due to formation of another quick reaction force unit Sokil (Falcon) under HUBOZ, Berkut was later reassigned under the supervision of the Directorate of Public Security of the MVS.

The Berkut has increasingly developed a reputation for engaging in political-related violence, including acts of police brutality and extrajudicial punishment against anti-government protesters, activists, and voters.

[15] On 18 July 1995, Berkut was involved in a partially successful attempt to prevent the burial of Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk) on the territory of St.Sophia monastery (surrounds the Saint Sophia's Cathedral).

Upon coming to power, Yanukovych had reversed oversight measures established during the Yushchenko administration to curb Berkut abuse of citizens, whereupon the special force "upped its brutality.

[21][22] Writing in Business Insider in February 2014, Harrison Jacobs noted: "The Berkut ... has had a long history of brutality, abuse, torture, and other measures in service of whatever political regime is in control of Ukraine.

"[6] According to Ukraine political expert Taras Kuzio in November 2013, in recent years the force had been increasingly used to intimidate anti-government demonstrators and to influence the electoral process.

[7] On 25 February 2014, acting Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov signed a decree on the dissolution of the Berkut, as by then the agency had become synonymous with police brutality for many pro-Euromaidan protesters and sympathizers.

[9][13] The Berkut was dissolved only four days after the opposition forces that had supported Euromaidan (including Avakov) had taken control of the Ukrainian government, and replaced with the restored National Guard of Ukraine on 13 March 2014.

[11] Many pro-Ukrainian Berkut servicemen opted to join the National Guard of Ukraine, which is partly composed of former Euromaidan activists, and began fighting alongside the regular Ukrainian Army against pro-Russian separatists in the concurrent War in Donbass.

[34] Five days before the dissolution of Berkut by the Ukrainian government, Russia began annexation of the Crimean peninsula and seizing control of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

"[38] Chaly then offered asylum to former Berkut troops in Ukraine, saying "These people adequately fulfilled their duty to the country, have shown themselves to be real men, and are now abandoned to the mercy of this rabid pack of Nazis.

We are ready to provide for them if they join us in our struggle, and to offer safety to their families.”[39] On 28 February Russia started to issue pro-Russian Berkut members Russian passports in the city of Simferopol.