DISINFO: The special military operation aims to end the Nazi regime in Kyiv
SUMMARY
Russia could not have sat idly by watching the Kyiv regime's persecution of people in Donbas, subjecting them to genocide, bombing and blockades, and nurturing in Ukraine hatred of Russia and everything Russian. The special military operation has helped the population to defend the people's right to their mother tongue, traditions and culture, and also aims to put an end to the criminal Nazi regime in Kyiv.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, actively trying to legitimise Russia’s aggression by claiming that Nazi Ukraine subjected the country's Russian-speaking population to "genocide".
This claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
There is no evidence to support the claims of genocide by Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities did not systematically exterminate or abuse the people living in the conflict zone. It was not an internal civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by the Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.
Articles 10 and 11 of the Ukrainian Constitution guarantee the free development of the languages and cultures of Ukraine’s ethnic minorities, including Russian-speakers.
No evidence has been provided that ethnic Russians were facing systemic persecution at the hands of the Ukrainian authorities, much less the danger of annihilation on grounds of nationality, ethnicity, or cultural belonging. This has been confirmed by reports issued by the Council of Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the OSCE. For an overview of the Kremlin's deployment of the "genocide" narrative regarding Ukraine, see further debunking by EUvsDisinfo, Euromaidan Press, and POLYGRAPH.info.
This false myth of Nazi Ukraine is a clear propaganda narrative that became a cornerstone in pro-Kremlin disinformation. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest" and "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
Read more disinformation narratives about Ukraine allegedly perpetrating genocide against its Russian-speaking population.
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.