Putin accuses Ukraine of neo-Nazism, but what does that actually mean? † War Ukraine and Russia

Read everything about the war in Ukraine in this file.

Since the war started in Ukraine, the words ‘Nazi’, ‘neo-Nazi’ and ‘denazification’ have often appeared in Putin’s speeches and statements. After all, Ukraine would be dominated by such neo-Nazis and Putin has taken on the task of ridding Russia’s neighbor.

Putin’s reasoning is, to say the least, peculiar given the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is himself a Jew. In addition, Zelensky signed only one law last fall to combat anti-Semitism.

Scientists immediately responded that Putin’s language is “factually incorrect, morally repugnant and deeply offensive”. Those same scientists also noted that there are indeed far-right groups in Ukraine, “but that does not justify the crude and wrong characterization of the country”.

What about those far-right groups? In 2014, a group of Ukrainian freedom fighters was hailed for having removed the important port city of Mariupol from the hands of pro-Russian separatists. However, the group of independence fighters – around which a political party was also founded – included some neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists. Since 2014 they are officially part of the National Guard of Ukraine.

Criticism soon came as this group could be associated with Nazi Germany. For example, under the leadership of these independence fighters, a stadium in western Ukraine was renamed after Roman Shukhevych. Curiously, Shukhevych commanded troops involved in the massacres of Jews and Poles during World War II.

“That is of course problematic,” explains Eduard Dolinsky, director of the Jewish Committee in Ukraine. “But it becomes ten times less important if you compare it to the threat posed by Russia in its alleged fight against Nazism.”

However, the reports about the far-right speech and policy have been magnified for years by the Russian authorities. In addition, Nazism would no longer mean anti-Jewish, but anti-Russian, according to a Russian analyst. And that is sensitive to the people who grew up in the Soviet Union, according to Russian historian Vladimir Malakhov.

In any case, many Jewish Ukrainians have since fled the country. And they may never return. “That will be one of the results of Putin’s ‘denazification’,” says Dolinsky.