DISINFO: Ukrainian authorities turned a blind eye toward Nazi groups
SUMMARY
Kyiv has turned a blind eye to openly neo-Nazi groups and embedded them in the power structure of the country. For many years the Nazis were completely free from any danger and persecution. They were free to do as they pleased. It was not only in Western Ukraine, where they traditionally did this, but it started to spread throughout the country.
RESPONSE
A recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi Ukraine, presented as justification for Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. In reality, Ukraine is not a Nazi state and Nazism is not Ukraine’s ideology.
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.
In 2015 Ukraine issued a ban on Nazi and Communist ideologies. On top of that, the far-right groups had a limited presence during the Euromaidan protests and have suffered defeats in every national election after that, with a united front of all radical right-wing parties in the 2019 parliamentary elections winning only 2.15% of the vote falling far short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
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".
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.