
220px|thumb|alt=Titushky|Titushky at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, November 24, 2013 The Titushky (plural; ; ; ; ) 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 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. Their role grew more prominent in the wake of Euromaidan, where they were involved in numerous clashes and acts of violence during the mo
220px|thumb|alt=Titushky|Titushky at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, November 24, 2013 The Titushky (plural; ; ; ; ) 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 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. Their role grew more prominent in the wake of Euromaidan, where they were involved in numerous clashes and acts of violence during the movement. The concept of Titushky also exists outside of Ukraine throughout Central and Eastern Europe, where the term became synonymous with the ruling regimes' informal, violent enforcers.
In the early 2010s, a Titushky raid () was a widely used slang term in both Ukrainian and the Russian spoken in Ukraine to describe street beatings, carjackings, and kidnappings by unidentified men in civilian clothes from behind the lines of political rallies. Titushky were employed by the Yanukovych government, reportedly receiving 200 hryvnia to $100 per day in payments. Some were also suspected of being illegal formations of combat troops carrying concealed pistols. They carried out intimidation and dispersal of anti-government demonstrations, and attacked participants and representative of the news media.
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