DISINFO: Nazi groups burned the protesters in Odessa in 2014
SUMMARY
On 2 May 2014, Nazi groups organised the brutal burning of protesters in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa that led to the death of 48 people.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about the Odessa tragedy and about Nazi Ukraine.
No trial has yet established the responsibilities of the different actors before a court. A total of 5 cases on trials and 3 investigations are currently ongoing.
Media reported about the tragedy in May 2014: the BBC, the Guardian, the DW. A chronology of the events has been established (1 and 2) and a non-partisan documentary film by Ukrainian Channel 7 has collected testimonies: May 2nd without Myth.
Regarding the investigation, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted in its report in 2019: "Five years on, there has still not been any accountability for the killings of six and violent deaths of 42 individuals. Some of the criminal proceedings launched after the tragic events have stalled at the pre-trial investigation stage, while others did at the trial stage. This suggests a lack of genuine interest from the authorities to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators."
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has long been a cornerstone of pro-kremlin disinformation efforts. This has already been widely debunked and addressed on EUvsDisinfo.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that on May 2, 2014, Ukrainian fascists executed 48 residents of Odessa, that death squads used by Ukraine to burn protesters in Odesa on May 2, 2014, that the CIA and Victoria Nuland helped the Ukrainian secret service to orchestrate deaths of pro-Russian protesters in Odesa in May 2014 and that The Nazis of Pravy Sektor are responsible for the massacre in Odessa on 2 May 2014.