DISINFO: Ukraine glorifies Nazism and practises anti-Semitism
SUMMARY
Ukraine glorifies Nazism and practises anti-Semitism.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives stating that Ukraine is a Nazi state and that anti-Semitism in Ukraine is on the rise.
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.
It is not true, as the article claims, that Ukraine “glorifies Nazism”. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2019 election, far-right candidates fell short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
The article’s claim about widespread anti-Semitism in Ukraine also does not reflect reality. The Israeli government’s annual report on anti-Semitism in the world says that by the end of 2018, Ukraine recorded a low incidence of intolerance towards Jews. Moreover, the report presented in 2019 by the Israeli Minister for Diaspora Relations, Naftali Bennett, states that “the anti-Semitic incidents in Ukraine were inspired by outsider forces hostile to Ukraine, aimed at discrediting Ukraine in the eyes of the global community” (p. 72).
In addition, the Pew Research Centre, according to the results of 2018, said that Ukraine has the lowest level of anti-Semitism - 5%. At the same time, this indicator in Armenia is 32%, in Lithuania - 23%, and in Romania - 22%. A 2018 study by the Kantor Centre at Tel Aviv University notes that “The countries with the highest number of [violent anti-Semitic] cases are the US (over 100 cases), the UK (68), France and Germany (35 each) [...] It should be noted that the numbers of cases in Eastern Europe have been much lower, for a number of years, in comparison to Western Europe, going down from 12 in Ukraine to a few in the other countries.” (p.5)
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