DISINFO: Ukraine promotes Nazism because it oppresses Russians
SUMMARY
The policy of Ukraine’s authorities has parallels with the policy of the Third Reich, which proves the existence of Ukrainian Nazism at state level. In Nazi Germany, it was impossible to be a Jew. In modern Ukraine, it is impossible to be Russian. Hitler was calling for hatred of the Russians. Zelenskyy is doing the same. Hitler's main argument was the inferiority of some peoples. The ideologists of Ukrainian Nazism regard Russians as an inferior nation. The idea of ‘eternal war' is yet another proof of the existence of Ukrainian Nazism. Zelenskyy was elected as a president of peace and became the president of eternal war.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Nazi-like policies of the Ukrainian authorities. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
There are no Nazis in the Ukrainian government. Accusations of Nazism are one of the most common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives aimed at undermining the statehood of Ukraine. The narrative of alleged Nazism in Ukraine has been actively used in Russian disinformation since the 2014 Euromaidan protests to discredit Kyiv’s shift toward Euro-Atlantic policy.
Ukraine is governed by a president and a parliament, which are elected in free and fair elections. Neither President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nor Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal have any connections to neo-Nazi groups. Nazi and Communist ideologies were banned by Ukrainian law in 2015.
During parliamentary elections right after the Euromaidan in 2014, the far-right Pravvy Sektor (Right Sector in Ukrainian) party, often depicted as ‘fascists’ by pro-Kremlin outlets, gained only 1.8 per cent of the vote. In comparison, the Communists gathered 3.88 per cent of the vote. Ukraine's electorate clearly dismissed far-right parties in the 2019 parliamentary elections. During the 2019 presidential election, the highest-rated nationalist candidate, Ruslan Koshulynskyy, won 1.62% of the vote.
The Law 'On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language,' passed by parliament in April 2019, does not restrict the use of any language in private communication. This legislation mandates the use of Ukrainian as the sole state language in official functions performed by state bodies and local self-government entities, as well as in various public domains of life, as specified in Article 1, paragraph 7. Simultaneously, UN member states have acknowledged Ukraine's unequivocal right to self-identification and the revitalisation of the Ukrainian language.
Regarding the claims that Ukrainian Nazis regard Russians as an inferior nation, in fact, the opposite is true as examined in our article Hate speech and calls for genocide in Putin’s Russia.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Denazification of Ukraine remains relevant as Jews and Russians are threatened by Nazis, that Ukrainian Nazis eliminate Ukrainian soldiers without trials, and that Ethnic Jew Zelenskyy covers up the glorification of Nazism in Ukraine.