Titushky

The Titushky (plural; Ukrainian: тітушки; Russian: титушки; Romanian: titușki; Georgian: ტიტუშკები, romanized: t’it’ushk’ebi) were mercenary agents in Ukraine who supported the Ukrainian security services during the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, often posing as street hooligans in sports clothing[1] with the purpose of serving as provocateurs at pro-European and anti-Yanukovych political rallies that would incite violence in order to get protestors arrested.

"[18] However, Vyacheslav Veremiy, a Vesti Reporter journalist traveling to Euromaidan, was pulled out of his car by a Titushky squad and shot to death point-blank from a concealed gun, indicating more than just a happenstance action.

[19] According to What's On magazine, Titushky openly fired live ammunition on 18 February 2014, resulting in the death of at least one protester at the scene near the Supreme Court building in Kyiv.

On the same day, some 200 Titushky men, dressed as Maidan defence units with green helmets and shields, joined Berkut troops and beat protesters on Velyka Zhytomyrska street using bats and iron pipes.

[19] Titushky also blocked a polling station in Mykolaiv during the presidential election amidst pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine in the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War, on 25 May 2014.

'Unknown perpetrators', (see Nieznani sprawcy (poland euphemism) [pl]) who were tasked with terrorizing and murdering dissidents, catholics, and keeping in check workers,[23] often with impunity.

[27][28] In 2024, Georgia's euroscepticist ruling party Georgian Dream used Titushky against political opponents extensively, drawing parallels with Yanukovich's administration in Ukraine.

[31] A number of opponents of the government's proposed "foreign agents law", including political and civil figures were ambushed, attacked, and severely beaten by Titushky.