DISINFO: The US and Ukraine support Nazism
SUMMARY
Moscow submitted a similar resolution last year, before the start of the military operation in Ukraine, after a US-backed coup installed a government in Ukraine that allowed neo-Nazi groups such as the Azov battalion and glorified Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose Ukrainian Nationalist Organization was responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of Poles and Jews during World War II. Only two states opposed Resolution 2021: the United States and Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the role of the US in 2014 Euromaidan in Ukraine and claiming that Ukraine is a Nazi state, supported by the US.
First of all, in 2014, there was no coup, nor a western orchestrated protest in Ukraine. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with the former President Yanukovych. After seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU due to Russian pressure. The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, the formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence.
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 required to enter 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.
Although it was just one among dozens of volunteer militias, Azov unit garnered controversy over the far-right politics of its initial founders, the use of neo-Nazi symbolism in some of its insignia, and the anti-Semitic views of some members. The unit was integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine in 2015. Since its integration, Azov regiment members have repeatedly denied being a far-right political unit, although they acknowledge that it includes individuals with such views.
Learn more about the reasons behind Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".