DISINFO: Russia defends Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians from Nazis
SUMMARY
Russia was forced to defend Russian people in Ukraine where the Russian language has been banned. Bandera crowds rule Kyiv. We back our WWII goals. Why does the West not see Nazification of European and US politics? Russians are the most divided nation and we protect Russians living abroad.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets alleging that a Nazi junta ruling in Ukraine persecutes ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians. This claim was made to justify Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
"Nazi" is also a classic Kremlin manipulative accusation against everybody not supporting Russia. See our article "Nazi East, Nazi West, Nazi over the cuckoo´s nest"
Russia's aggression against Ukraine was unprovoked and unjustified. Contrary to Russian claims, the Russian language is not banned in Ukraine, nor did Ukraine commit genocide in the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. None of the multiple reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which are regularly published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, or the reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission come even close to referencing genocide in Ukraine.
Russia is not protecting ethnic Russians or Ukrainians speaking Russian in Ukraine. Such claims have been unequivocally debunked by independent Russian media, among others.
Ukrainian law does not forbid the use of Russian nor any other languages in private communication and religious ceremonies, as well as in book publishing, the press, including radio and television, education and the service sector. Furthermore, Ukraine is a signatory to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which guarantees that people in Ukraine have the right: "to use freely and without interference his or her minority language, in private and in public, orally and in writing."
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine, which appeared during the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) protests in late 2013 - early 2014, has been used by the Kremlin to discredit Kyiv’s shift toward Euro-Atlantic policy. It has also been widely debunked and analysed by EUvsDisinfo.
Russia has aggressive plans beyond Ukraine. Some Russian politicians seem to be using the words de-Nazification indiscriminately of late. In response to a critical remark by Polish President Andrzej Duda about Russia, Russian MP Oleg Morozov threatened in May 2022 to place Poland “in the first place in line for de-Nazification after Ukraine”.
Read more disinformation cases alleging that Ukraine is a Nazi state, the EU is Hitler's 'New Europe', and the European Union justifies Nazism.