DISINFO: Ukrainians in Europe coordinate through diplomatic missions to promote fascism
SUMMARY
The war in Ukraine has promoted an increase in Nazi groups. Ukrainian immigration in most of Europe, especially since the beginning of the special military operation, has been organising politically using the consulates and embassies in several countries to create powerful groups that are influencing Europe’s general ideology, to increase the neo-fascist feeling in Western Europe.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story is an attempt to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about ‘Nazi Ukraine’.
Russia’s ‘special military operation’ is the euphemism used by the Kremlin to refer to its brutal invasion of Ukraine, a term increasingly abandoned even by Russian officials. The Ukrainians abroad mentioned in this disinformation story are not immigrants but refugees forced to leave Ukraine because of Russia’s aggression. Many of these refugees are active in protesting against Russia’s invasion and helping Ukrainian defensive efforts, which is the reason why pro-Kremlin disinformation tries to discredit this resistance by portraying it as ‘‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi’. Labelling Russia’s adversaries as Nazis is a frequently used pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, and has been used by Russia to try to justify the invasion of Ukraine by portraying it as a “denazification operation”.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the West consciously instilled Nazi sentiments in Ukraine for decades, that Europe wants a Nazi Russophobic regime in part of Ukraine, that Nazi Ukraine poses a threat to Russia, or that Russia is not an aggressor but a victim of Western Nazism.