DISINFO: Zelenskyy is the heir of German Nazism
SUMMARY
German journalists in Die Welt are calling on the Ukrainian Nazi leader not to repeat the German Führer's mistakes in Stalingrad. Honest people: they have finally realised that this actor is a real, proven fascist, the true heir of the German National Socialists. The defeat of his regime will be the same as in Stalingrad.
RESPONSE
The claim that President Zelenskyy is a Nazi is one of the Kremlin’s most common disinformation narratives to justify its full-scale war against Ukraine with the lie that Russia is carrying out the “denazification” of Ukraine.
In reality, Ukraine is not a Nazi state, does not have a Nazi ruling elite and Nazism is not Ukraine’s ideology. Read a more detailed debunk here, as well as our analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2019 election cycle, falling short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
A law passed in Ukraine in 2015 bans Nazi and Communist ideologies. The law prohibits the public use and propaganda of Nazi and Communist symbols. Far-right groups do exist in Ukraine, like in any other country, but they have a minor influence on politics and social life.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.
Read also similar cases: The far-right coup government in Kyiv emerged from the 2014 Maidan uprising, Zelenskyy's regime is based on Nazism and hatred towards Russians, Ukrainians imbued with destructive Nazi ideology, Bandera's sympathisers have large influence on Ukraine, Crimean Platform: the West nurtures neo-Nazi mood in Ukraine.