Who are the titles? An interesting, colorful term was a satellite word of Euromaidan. Not a single mention of revolutionary protest was complete without aunts. The word untranslatable into other languages of the world overnight became known and widely used far beyond the borders of Ukraine, while it appeared a few months before the Maidan.
Titus: The Importance of Neologism
This term was included in the list of the most popular neologisms in 2013, as well as its ideological antonym Euromaidan. So who are these titles? This is a collective image that arose and was needed to designate young people (men) from a certain social stratum of society.
These are people of a sporty appearance, actively engaged in boxing or martial arts, consisting in sports clubs or in groups. It was established and proved by civil activists and journalists that they were used by power structures (as well as the government itself) to intimidate, disperse and create provocative actions in places of gathering people expressing disagreement with the policies of official authorities.
Vadim Titushko went down in history
To understand who are called aunts, you need to know who they came from. In May 2013, in the center of Kiev, 2 opposing ideological actions took place: one was from the opposition, the other (as a contract) from the party in power (Party of Regions). Both meetings were quite numerous, they were attended by famous journalists.
At some point, a fight broke out between the participants, as a result of which a girl (a media representative) and another journalist suffered. During the investigation, it was established that Vadim Titushko was the instigator and provocateur.
This young man got into the camera’s lenses at the time of the attack, and only thanks to this he was able to be held accountable. In September of that year, this 20-year-old boy was awarded 3 years, which were replaced by 2 conditional. As for his personality, Vadim was in the sports club of the city of Bila Tserkva (near Kiev), was engaged in martial arts, had differences. In his midst he was known as Vadim-Romanian.
His surname Titushko has a singular form, but, having become a collective way, was transformed into a plural form. So they began to designate aggressively-minded young people whom the current government used informally to carry out "black" and criminal work, namely: beating, intimidation, blackmail, kidnapping, robbery.
After the events of May and the conviction of Vadim, perhaps the aunts as a term would have gone into oblivion. However, they had to play an even more significant role in the historical events of the state of Ukraine.
Who are the titles on Euromaidan? Street fighters for 200 UAH per day
They appeared immediately after the formation of Euromaidan and became an unofficial, alternative police and other power structures organization. Throughout the entire period of the confrontation (from November 2013 to February 2014), the aunts were involved in the most criminal and criminal events. They abducted Maidan activists, burned their cars, beaten, tortured, robbed, mocked. In addition, some of them took part in the killings, which is already a fact proven to date.
Titus was delivered from the southeast of the country, where the top authorities came from and where there was great loyalty to its representatives. The so-called aunts acted together with the police, taking part in the dispersal of the Maidan and in the detention of its participants. Already at the end of events, when the preponderance was clearly on the side of the protesters, the Party of Regions members formed and sent to Kiev from these regions entire trains and bus convoys clogged with bunches.
However, thanks to increased support from the community, these “tours” were still blocked at the entrances to Kiev.
After those events in Ukraine there was not a single person who did not know who such aunts were.
Vadim Titushko vs aunts
Yes, that's what history is capable of. After President Yanukovych escaped from the country, Vadim Titushko showed up in the information space and expressed his protest against his “namesakes”. At the same time, he said that he had made a mistake in his time, and now he supports Euromaidan.
He, he said, would gladly join him if not for a two-year ban on taking part in various political and public actions. The only thing he could do was cut firewood for the Maidan activists and protect the entrances to the city from the influx of athletic guys. So Titushko did not let aunts in Kiev.
After the Maidan
The role of the aunts is still to be assessed, because the investigation of mass killings, torture, abductions and bullying of peacefully protesting people is still underway. It is interesting that in the rhetoric of activists you can often hear precisely about the aunts when it comes to the most terrible, bloody events on the Maidan. That is, not even about the police or special forces, but about the aunts. This means that they took an active part in the winter confrontations, and they were no less afraid of them than people in uniform.
That's all about who the titles are. In the process of analyzing the events, it was found that they mainly belong to people from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, who have a criminal record, problems with the law, are unemployed and are engaged in gang raids. Interestingly, the Maidan participants easily distinguished them from other civilians in the characteristic manner of dressing (sportswear) and a special expression that was completely devoid of signs of intelligence. As someone said, these were ordinary gopniks, or gopota, as they are usually called in certain circles.