Talk about them disappears in the negotiations.. Who are the "Nazis and nationalists" that Russia declares war on in Ukraine?

Lviv (Western Ukraine) -

Before and during the days of the war, Russian officials have been repeating terms referring to “neo-Nazis” and “ultra-nationalists” in Ukraine, as a major threat to the existence and identity of Russian subjects, especially in the separatist “Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk” in the Russian Federation. Donbass (southeast of the country), whose "independence" was recognized by Moscow weeks ago, and in the occupied Crimea to the south.

However, when negotiating with the Ukrainian side, these "radical Nazis" are absent from the Russian side, while the conditions and demands for neutrality and disarmament are mainly attended, as well as demands for the right to use the "Russian language" among its speakers.

Who are the "Nazis and Nationalists" in Ukraine?

What is the reality of their presence and influence on the country’s authorities and its military and security structures?

Why do they not mention them and the "danger" they pose from the negotiating tables?

Bandera after the Orange Revolution

Russian talk about "Ukrainian extremist nationalists" began after the events of the Orange Revolution in 2004-2005, which was the first tangible shift towards pro-Westernism in Ukraine, especially after its authorities granted the status of "hero" to leader Stepan Bandera.

Bandera (1909-1959 AD) is one of the most prominent leaders of the "national liberation movement" that included nationalists against Polish influence in western Ukraine, before turning to the anti-Soviet Union and considering it an "occupation", and before it called for Ukraine's independence.

The Soviet Union banned and fought the movement, accusing it of allying with Nazi Germany against it and treason, before assassinating Bandera in Munich, Germany.

After the Orange ruling, between 2010 and the end of 2013, the regime of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych withdrew the "hero" label from Bandera, to appease the anger of Moscow, the heiress of the Soviet Union.

"Nazis" in the eyes of the Russians

After the "revolution of freedom and dignity" in 2014 in Ukraine, or what Moscow considers a "coup", the title of "hero" returned to Bandera again, and many streets were named after him;

In Russia, the descriptions of "Nazis and ultra-nationalists" became applied to everyone who participated in the "revolution" or "coup" or supported it, and everyone who opposed the "annexation" of Crimea after it, or later fought the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region (southeast of Ukraine).

Here, certain parties and movements emerged more than others, such as the "Right Sector" movement, the Freedom Party (Svoboda), as well as volunteer military groups, which later joined the Ukrainian army in the separatist war, such as the "Azov" battalion.

Under the title of fighting these people and protecting nationals and minorities, Moscow annexed the Crimea and supported the separatists until they recognized the independence of their republics and launched a massive war on Ukraine.

Nazism and extremism

Although it is considered the most adherent of the Ukrainian language as the only official language in state institutions, the parties, forces and national movements deny themselves the characteristics of Nazism, extremism and racism against speakers and people of Russian origin and others.

Yuri Mendyuk, who served as head of the Political Bureau of the "Right Sector" movement, told Al Jazeera Net, "We had deputies in parliament, and we had a battalion fighting separatists in eastern Ukraine, and among us were Russian speakers, the priority was and still is loyalty to the country," according to saying.

He added, "This is Russian misleading propaganda to justify the actions of the Kremlin. All nationalist parties lost the parliamentary elections in 2019, and most of the local elections later, so they practically disappeared from the political scene, but the Russian propaganda continued, because it achieves its goal inside Russia," he also said.

In this context, he may also understand what the American sports and cinema star Arnold Schwarzenegger said, in a clip recorded a few days ago, that “the Ukrainian president is of Jewish origin,” apparently denying the allegations of the existence of the phenomenon of Nazism and racism in Ukraine.

for domestic consumption

In a related context, most Ukrainians today almost unanimously agree that marking them as Nazis is aimed at domestic consumption within Russia, and mobilizing the largest possible public support for the measures taken against Ukraine.

Mykola Shkaraban, who worked as director of communications and satellite broadcasting for the Ukrainian state-run UATV channel, told Al Jazeera Net that "Russia has created a media aura around its people, full of misleading propaganda, and does not allow different views to reach it for fear of spreading awareness. That is why we were prohibited - like many others - in Russian media space.

In the same context, historian Oleksandr Pale says that in the 1940s the accusation of treason was leveled against Bandera supporters and the Crimean Tatars, not because they collaborated with the Nazis, but because they opposed the Soviet Union.

He continued, "The talk about this accusation against the Tatars came about the occupation of Crimea, and before Russia occupied Ukraine again, and the talk about Nazis and (Bandiris), as the Russians say about them, will not stop."

A war on the will and "Roseism"

A large sector of Ukrainians see that Russia's war on their country is aimed at eliminating their will and the foundations for the survival of their state, and not on anything else.

Yury Levchenko, a former parliamentarian from the Freedom Party (the extremist as described by Russian media), told Al Jazeera Net, "The Russian authorities are fighting the Ukrainian will, not Nazism. and disarmament), without delving into lies,” he said.

"All these lies do not deceive the world and the Ukrainians, even among the speakers and people of Russian descent, and the lies of nuclear, biological and other weapons will disappear one day," he added.

According to Levchenko, "In Russia's war against us, the term Rosism spread (Russian Nazism), because its manifestations are manifested in the actions and decisions of Putin, who orders bombing, killing and destruction, just as Hitler did before," as he described it.