On Ukrainian Nazism, or Why a New Nuremberg is Necessary – Part 2

The famous Ukrainian political, leader of the party «Platform of Opposition: for Life» in a long article makes a comparative analysis between Zelensky´s government today in Ukraine and Hitler´s regime. Here we offer a shortened 3 parts series.

By Viktor Medvedchuk

Article II of the UN Convention “On the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”, adopted by resolution 260 (III) of the UN General Assembly of 09.12.1948, states that “Under genocide are understood the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such

(a) The killing of members of the such group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of such a group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

The residents of southeastern Ukraine did not accept the Banderist, Nazi and anti-Russian ideas, which led to mass protests. In consequence, tanks, artillery, and aviation were used against them, although under international norms they exercised their right to rebellion, enshrined in the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by Resolution 217 A (III) of the UN General Assembly of December 10, 1948, which states: “It is essential that human rights should be protected by the rule of law to ensure that man will not be forced to resort, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.”

On May 2, 2014, Nazi groups organized the brutal burning of protesters in the Odessa Trade Union House, which resulted in 48 people being burned alive. These events were mockingly presented on the official UN website: “On May 2, 2014, about 300 well-organized supporters of  ‘federalism’ attacked a march by about 2,000 protesters ‘for unity,’ including local residents and a large number of soccer fans known for their strong ‘pro-unity’ stance.

This crime can be compared to the burning of civilians in the Belarusian village of Khatyn on March 22, 1943, which was carried out by the punishers of the SS Dirlewanger Battalion, whose symbols are used by Ukrainian Nazis.

On June 2, 2014, two Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft shelled the center of Luhansk. The strike targeted the regional state administration building and the square in front of it. As a result of the bombing of civilians by Ukrainian aircraft, 8 civilians were killed in their own country. The perpetrators of the barbaric strike have not been identified.

The genocide unleashed against the residents of Donbas is comparable to the genocide of the Nazis against the Jewish population of the Reich.

From the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal: “From the earliest days of the NSDAP, anti-Semitism occupied a prominent place in National Socialist thinking and propaganda. It was believed that Jews should not be entitled to German citizenship and should be held primarily responsible for all the disasters inflicted on the nation due to the war of 1914-1918. Further, the antipathy toward the Jews was reinforced by the assertion of the superiority of the German race and blood. Chapter II 1 of Mein Kampf deals with the theory of the so-called “Race of Masters,” the doctrine of Aryan superiority over other nations and the right of Germans, by virtue of their superiority, to dominate other nations and use them to achieve their own ends. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the persecution of Jews became official state policy.

Those who led the coup committed many crimes during the Maidan. However, as early as February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, under pressure from the radicals, passed a law exempting them and their supporters from criminal liability for crimes committed during the coup d’etat.

At the same time, Yuri Lutsenko, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, was exempted from criminal liability. In July 2016, Lutsenko personally interceded for the commander of the punitive battalion “Aydar” when a measure of restraint was chosen for him. At the same time, two battalions of Aydar and Donbass punitive battalions blocked the courthouse and completely blocked traffic on Kiev’s central street, Khreshchatyk.

In December 2018, Lutsenko publicly stated that any attacks on “pro-Ukrainian” activists would be considered an attack on the state of Ukraine.

Another head of the Ukrainian law enforcement agency, who openly supports the Nazis, was the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, whose neo-Nazi Azov regiment used the Nazi symbol Wolfsangel (wolfhook) as its official symbol.

In April 2018, 50 U.S. congressmen asked the U.S. State Department for diplomatic pressure on Ukraine and Poland for anti-Semitism. The manifestation of anti-Semitism and glorification of Nazi collaborators, in their opinion, was the “2017 campaign praising the UPA” of the Institute of National Memory, renaming streets after OUN-UPA figures Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich, holding a Shukhevich festival, as well as activities of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, which should be disbanded, according to the congressmen. At the same time, the congressmen noted the involvement of Minister Avakov in this unit.

Without his permission, the activities of punitive battalions were impossible in the extermination of the population in Donbas. Avakov was later forced to admit that some units were committing crimes and had to disband them. The military prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine judged members of the Ministry’s units for crimes against civilians in Donbas.

According to the testimonies of survivors of their crimes, most of them were openly Nazis.

After the 2014 coup d’état, the Ukrainian Security Service reformed itself according to OUN-UPA security standards of 1930-1950 and turned the security service into a punitive body aimed to eradicate the opposition.

From the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal: “In preparation for the day when he intended to seize power in Germany, Hitler in January 1929 appointed Heinrich Himmler Reichsführer, entrusting him with the special task of transforming the SS into a powerful, select group that could be counted on under any circumstances.

It can be stated that those who headed the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine after the 2014 coup d’état were adherents of the ideology of the Nazis, OUN-UPA, as well as their methods.

In 2014, pro-American politician Arseniy Yatsenyuk became Prime Minister. On January 8, 2015, on the German television channel ARD, he stated, “Russian military aggression against Ukraine is an attack on world order, and it is an attack on European security. We all remember well the Soviet invasion, both in Ukraine and also in Germany. That has to be avoided. And no one is allowed to rewrite the results of World War II, which the Russian president, Mr. Putin, is trying to do.”

However, none of the Western politicians condemned this absurd statement.

On April 9, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a bill drafted by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and introduced by MP Yuri Shukhevich, son of one of the OUN leaders Roman Shukhevich, “On the legal status and memory of participants in the struggle for Ukrainian independence in the 20th century,” which grants members of the OUN and UPA soldiers the status of “fighters for Ukrainian independence.

The OUN and the UPA worked closely with Nazi Germany before and during the Great Patriotic War. Thus, the state legally recognized the Nazis and their accomplices from the OUN and the UPA, who had formed, among others, the SS division “Galicia” as “fighters for the independence of Ukraine”.

In the verdict of Nuremberg Tribunal: “Considering a question about SS, the Tribunal includes here all persons who have been officially accepted as members of SS, including members of General SS, SS troops, formations of SS “Dead Head” and members of any kind of police services, who were members of SS…”.

It should be noted that hatred of all Soviets and Russian was also manifested in the law “On the condemnation of the communist national-socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and prohibition of propaganda of their symbols”, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 09.04.2015. With this law, Ukraine equated the Nazis with the Soviet soldiers who liberated the country from them.

A special role in unleashing genocide against the people of Donbas was played by one of the leaders of the state coup, Oleksandr Turchynov, better known as the “bloody pastor”. On April 14, 2014, as acting president of Ukraine, Turchynov signed a decree on the so-called anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, which led to a civil war. The head of state officially declared civilians of the two regions protesting against Russophobia as terrorists. Turchinov gave orders for the use of combat aircraft and artillery against people, for the uncontrolled distribution of weapons, and for the formation of nationalist battalions.

In order to falsify history and contrast the Ukrainian people with the Russian people state-level holidays were changed. On October 14, 2014, “Maidan” President Poroshenko canceled the celebration of Motherland Defender’s Day in Ukraine on February 23, stating that “Ukraine will never again celebrate this holiday according to the military-historical calendar of a neighboring country. We will honor the defenders of our own Motherland, not someone else’s.” Since then, Defender of Ukraine Day has been celebrated on October 14. On the same day, nationalists celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Since 2015, Soviet symbols, including the Victory flag, have been banned in Ukraine.

Poroshenko’s government initiated the renaming of avenues, streets, and localities after Bandera, Shukhevich, Petlyura, Konovalets, etc. Monuments to fascist henchmen were openly erected, and monuments to heroes who destroyed fascists were destroyed and desecrated. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities either tacitly supported this or directly approved it.

In “post-Maidan” Ukraine, a media resource called “Peacemaker” was created. In violation of the law, the addresses of citizens trying to defend the rights of the Russian-speaking population are published. By “coincidence”, people listed on “Peacemaker” begin to be killed. And the murders, for the most part, are not investigated: the killers go unpunished.

So, on April 14, 2015, the well-known politician Oleg Kalashnikov, the leader of the Kiev anti-Maidan was killed. The crime was not solved. Two days later, Oles Buzina, a writer and publicist who fought for the Russian language in Ukraine and an ideological opponent of the ruling regime, was murdered. A few days earlier, his personal data had been added to “Peacemaker”. Two months after the murder, suspects of the crime were caught. Two suspects were initially detained: Denis Polishchuk and Andrey Medvedko, members of the radical nationalist group S14, and participants of the ATO. However, before the end of 2015, both suspects were released from custody.

Thus, between 2014 and 2019, nationalism and Russophobia became fully entrenched in Ukraine. The authorities are cracking down with Nazi methods on the rebellious population of Donbas and other Ukrainians who do not agree with the regime’s actions. Alternative ideologies have been banned, and politicians who disagree with the views of the authorities have been physically eliminated or expelled from the country. At the same time, the “civilized” West openly promotes the revival of Nazism in the center of Europe in the 21st century.

On May 20, 2019, Vladimir Zelensky became President of Ukraine. Under him, Ukraine has gone from a nationalist state to a Nazi dictatorship.

Today, the main thesis of his election program sounds blasphemous. It began with the words: “I will tell you my dream: Ukraine, where fireworks are only at weddings and birthdays“. Today, the whole world sees the Ukraine of Zelensky’s dream with ruined cities and cemeteries.

Before his election, Zelensky was known as a showman-comedian. He was characterized by his associate Alexey Arestovich in an interview with Island.tv: “Zelensky is a weak man. He has two keys: petty ego and fear.

On April 28, 2021, in Kiev, the march in honor of the creation of SS division “Galicia” was held. The participants were demonstratively wearing Nazi symbols and exchanging traditional Nazi salute, however, none of the representatives of the city administration who issued the permit were punished, nor were the participants of the march.

Since September 1, 2020, the law “On Complete General Secondary Education” eliminated all Russian-language schools in Ukraine. The subject “Defense of the Motherland” was renamed “Defense of Ukraine” in schools. The old name was allegedly one of the manifestations of the Soviet paradigm. The history textbooks were completely rewritten. References to common history with Russia, such as the invasion of Napoleon and the Russo-Turkish wars, were excluded from them. The history of the First and Second World Wars was rewritten with a Russophobia, nationalistic perception. Ukraine’s participation in the Great Patriotic War was presented as a struggle of the Ukrainian people against both Germany and the USSR.

Since January 16, 2021, according to the discriminatory law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language”, everyone has been obliged to serve consumers and provide information exclusively in the Ukrainian language.

Viktor Medvedchuk is a Ukrainian lawyer, businessman, and politician. Before the war, Medvedchuk was the leading Ukrainian anti-NATO politician and supporter of normalizing relations with Russia. He is chairman of the Opposition Bloc for Life party, banned in Ukraine. He was arrested by Ukrainian intelligence services on April 12, 2022, was imprisoned, and since September 2022 has been living outside his country, after being handed over to Russia in a prisoner-of-war exchange.