NBC: Ukraine’s Nazi problem is real, even if Putin’s ‘denazification’ claim isn’t

NBC, a news outlet unconditionally supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia makes some interesting remarks.

While it has become a common place attack against President Putin to say that Putin’s argument about Nazis in today’s Ukraine is nonsense, NBC has taken a closer look at the matter.

It was always claimed that the Russian accusation cannot be real as Ukraine’s President, V Selensky, is a Jew. Therefore, Ukraine cannot have a Nazi problem. NBC now is taking another view. NBC confirms that there is a huge Neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine and that the government is supporting it. While there have been no recent progroms against Jews (like in the history of Ukraine on its former territories there were many), there is a clear hate directed against Russians with laws suppressing Russian culture, language and identity. This Neo-Nazi hate against Russian predates the 2022 military conflict, even it predates the 2014 start of the overall conflict in Ukraine. NBC mentions that previously such hate was, in particular, directed against Russian-Jewish businessmen investing greatly in Ukraine.

NBC mentions the history of Jewish progroms and, in particular, the WWII extermination of Jews on the territory of actual Ukraine by German Nazis and Ukrainian HIWIS (“willing helpers”). NBC also mentions the cult which has been growing about former WWII leaders of the historic Ukrainian nationalist movement which were collaborating with the German Nazis. Ukraine has now dozens of monuments and scores of street names changed to the names of these Nazi-collaborators. This is a result of a strong and growing Neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine, says NBC. As well, NBC reports that Neo-Nazis have been built up in the ranks of the Ukrainian army – referring to the Azov elite battalion which has been banned by the US Congress in 2018.

It is overall a difficult discussion about de-nazification which Putin has put forward as one of the reasons for the military action against Ukraine. While the proper Nazis of WWII most certainly do not exist in Ukraine anymore, there are many large groups in the Ukrainian society that cherish those former WWII Nazis and use symbols and participate in marches in their honour. Such movements are to be understood as a reflection of the new Ukrainian unity and the anti-Russian stance propagated in all the Ukrainian society. While it is understandable that in view of the military confrontation with Russia there is a certain unity and a need of appearance of a national unity movement, it is very unfortunate that this movement takes over symbols and behaviours of the WWII Nazis. Any such Ukrainian national movement can be easily discredited by the use of Nazi symbols – and the US may still ban such Neo-Nazi groups and Russia may continue to call for their denazification.