In Ukraine, there are a large number of radicals capable of provoking a conflict with the authorities.

This was stated by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the party "Opposition Platform - For Life" Oleg Voloshin.

According to him, the increase in the number of nationalists occurred against the background of the growth of Russophobic sentiments.

“The virus of nationalism and Russophobia has already been driven into society so deeply that now there may be several hundred or tens of thousands of hotheads who will actually go to storm the parliament if there is no tough position from the West,” Voloshin said on the First Independent ".

The deputy noted that the authorities are aggravating the situation by promoting revanchism among military veterans and other segments of the population.

“They themselves created this 'Society of Veterans' and so on.

Instead of helping people to overcome post-traumatic stress syndrome, they constantly escalate it, promote it: "You are war heroes, we will still win, we will parade across Donetsk."

Instead of explaining: “Your son has died.

Do you want another one to die?

Let's come to an agreement. "

Instead of gradually healing this sore wound, they are constantly pouring salt, ”Voloshin emphasized.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that Voloshin has drawn attention to the problem of Russophobia in Ukraine.

For example, in August, he said that these views are firmly rooted in society.

“There is a part of society in Ukraine that hates Russia with every fiber of its soul.

Even if the Crimea is "returned" to us tomorrow, and the Kuban is given as a present, they will still hate it, ”the deputy said on the NewsOne channel.

Voloshin also announced the presence of open Russophobes in the ranks of the political elite of Ukraine, citing Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Ukrainian Ambassador to Great Britain Vadim Prystaiko as examples.

Radical vector

Ukrainian radical nationalists consistently carry out various actions directed against the Russian language, culture and, in general, against everything connected with Russia.

So, in January 2020, a group of radicals in Kharkiv attacked participants in a rally against discrimination against the Russian language.

The protesters demanded that the residents of the region retain the right to use the Russian language, which was limited by new laws on the state language and education.

“Nationalists came to disrupt our event ... Sprayed tear gas, I was in the hospital, washed my eyes.

One police officer was hospitalized with eye burns, as well as several employees of TV channels, ”said Andrei Lesik, one of the organizers of the rally, a member of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party.

  • Clashes between right-wing radicals and police in Kiev

  • © REUTERS / Gleb Garanich

Local media noted that among the radicals there were young people with the "National Militia" and "Right Sector" * stripes on their clothes.

In March this year, in Lviv, nationalists beat street musicians for singing a song in Russian.

Media reported that the attackers may have been members of the Sokol youth movement, which is a subsidiary of the nationalist Svoboda party.

In April, radicals blocked the central entrance to the territory of the Russian embassy in Kiev, unfurled posters with insults, and also projected inscriptions using obscene language on the facade of the building using a laser installation.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident "another Russophobic sortie."

The Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanding a thorough investigation of the case, Zakharova said.

A similar action was held at the end of May.

The radicals again blocked the central entrance to the building of the Russian diplomatic mission, and also voiced threats and insults against Russia and the Russian leadership.

After that, the Charge d'Affaires of Ukraine in the Russian Federation Vasily Pokotilo was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was lodged with a protest.

In June, nationalists in Lvov prevented employees of the Russian consulate from laying flowers at the monument to Alexander Pushkin on the occasion of the 222nd anniversary of his birth.

The radicals pushed the diplomats back to the car, broke a bouquet of flowers and forced them to leave.

The police officers who were present at the scene did not intervene.

After the incident, the Russian embassy submitted a note of protest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

At the same time, as experts note, feeling their impunity, nationalists not only openly speak out with Russophobic actions, but also challenge the authorities. 

As an example, analysts cited the events of March 2021, when protesters of nationalists marched to the president's office, smashed windows on the first floor of the building and tried to set fire to the front doors.

So they expressed support for the former head of the Odessa branch of the "Right Sector" Sergei Sternenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for kidnapping and robbery.

The police officers who were nearby did not intervene.

After that, in early April, Sternenko was released from the pre-trial detention center and placed under house arrest pending an appeal.

Earlier, in September 2020, nationalists who opposed the joint inspection of the problem area in Donbass with the OSCE also staged protests outside the president's office in Kiev and Zelensky's residence.

A RT source in the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs notes that Volodymyr Zelensky does not yet risk imposing any sanctions against radicals.

“I think those around him still hope to use them as they see fit.

In fact, they are a lever of pressure to fight dissidents.

But there is always a risk that these people will become uncontrollable, and this will create problems for the president and the whole country, ”said the functionary of the ministry.

In turn, the interlocutor of RT in the Batkivshchyna party explained that in fact, many nationalist groups are private armies of Ukrainian oligarchs formed after the events of 2014.

“Many of them look like nationalists and are ready to carry out any task.

The authorities are afraid of such groups, and the farther from Kiev, the better it can be seen.

Moreover, these people do not bear any responsibility for their actions.

And the authorities do not have the political will and sufficient self-confidence to take these people under control and severely punish them for what they have done, "said the representative of Batkivshchyna.

The reluctance of the Zelensky administration to rein in radicals and nationalists is an obstacle to Kiev's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, emphasizes an RT source in the presidential Servant of the People party.

“I can't imagine what kind of Europe Ukraine is going to.

To do this, you need to at least put things in order in the country.

Anyone in Kiev can gather a dozen friends, arm themselves with flags, firecrackers and block Khreshchatyk for the benefit of another nationalist idea.

This is chaos, not democracy.

I'm not even talking about the fact that these people do not bear any responsibility for their actions, ”the politician said.

Signals from above

Experts note that Russophobic sentiments in Ukraine are fueled by statements by top officials of the state.

So, for example, in early August, President Vladimir Zelensky said that residents of Donbass who consider themselves Russian should leave the country and go to the Russian Federation.

“I believe that if you live today on the territory of the temporarily occupied Donbass and think that“ our cause is right - we go to Russia, we are Russians ”, it is a big mistake to stay in Donbass.

It will never be Russian territory.

It's like a wall in Germany.

In any case, people, history will seize the moment, and the wall will collapse, ”the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with Dom TV.

  • Procession of nationalists in Ukraine

  • © AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky

Recall that about

The leading role of Russophobia in Ukrainian political discourse was also mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his article "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians."

“They prefer to exploit the image of a“ victim of external aggression ”and trade in Russophobia.

They arrange bloody provocations in the Donbass.

In a word, by any means they attract the attention of external patrons and masters, ”Putin wrote.

Ukrainian radicals still remain a political force that the country's authorities have to reckon with, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the IMEMO RAS, said in an interview with RT.

“The radicals present themselves as allegedly patriots of Ukraine and, with the help of propaganda slogans, are trying to influence the current Kiev leadership,” the expert said.

Nationalism and Russophobia are present in Ukraine not only at the household level, but also among the majority of political forces, added

Vladimir Olenchenko

...

“There are a lot of people in power who share these ideas, the same Prime Minister Shmyhal - he comes from Western Ukraine, he never separated himself from Ukrainian nationalism,” Olenchenko stressed.

In turn, the Ukrainian political scientist Alexander Semchenko, in a conversation with RT, noted that the danger of a civil conflict and a conflict with the authorities provoked by radicals, which Rada deputy Voloshin spoke about, exists. 

“But Voloshin shifted the emphasis - the question is not in the reaction of the West, but in the law enforcement practice that has developed at the Level.

Now it is such that the offenses committed by these comrades, as a rule, are not prosecuted according to the law, ”the political scientist said.

Zelenskiy's administration sees radicals as a tool

, with the help of which the authorities can solve their problems, the expert added.

“The main task is to divide the people, to prevent people from consolidating in the fight against real problems.

The Zelenskiy administration has the strength to resolve this issue, but why destroy what they use to guarantee their stay in power?

"- concluded Alexander Semchenko.

* "Right Sector" is a Ukrainian association of radical nationalist organizations, recognized as extremist and banned on the territory of Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).