Ukraine’s Complicated History And Situation
– By Lisa Rutherford –
Russian President Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is not justifiable, and I am certainly not an apologist for him. His assertion that he’s working to rid Ukraine of Nazis is a red herring for his real intentions. But, that said, the issue of Nazis and other right-wing radicals in Ukraine is not fictitious and is quite an involved story.
I think it’s worth considering how little we have heard about Ukraine’s past and present when it comes to Nazis and other far-right groups not only in Ukraine generally but their involvement in Ukraine’s military and the fact that our own U.S. military has supported this.
Since the war began in late February there has been little if any mention in our mainstream media of Ukraine’s association with and use of far-right groups. In fact, instead of acknowledging the situation when mention of Putin cleansing Ukraine of Nazis arises, most media use Zelensky’s being a Jew to cast off the idea of a Nazi problem, or newscasters shift focus to Putin’s real reasons for attacking Ukraine: seeking secure access to sea ports, stopping Ukraine’s NATO efforts, etc. Perhaps focusing on the real reasons for the war is justifiable. However, it seems to me it gives mainstream media another black eye by showing they are not telling the whole story.
Interestingly, when I searched the Internet for information about Ukraine and Nazis an amazing amount of information came up, outside of mainstream media. I did, however, find one March 2022 article on NBC news “Ukraine’s Nazi problem is real, even if Putin’s ‘denazification’ claim isn’t” with the author pointing out that “Not acknowledging this threat means that little is being done to guard against it.” The article’s author Allan Ripp, of Ripp Media, has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Newsweek, The New York Times, and other publications.
In 2014 to help fight Russia, Ukraine made use of far-right groups to bolster their standing military that was in a state of disarray and still uses them. If we are going to help Ukraine with some Americans actually going there to put themselves in harm’s way to assist, let’s be honest about whom we are helping and why. As Mr. Ripp points out, “…it would be a dangerous oversight to deny Ukraine’s antisemitic history and collaboration with Hitler’s Nazis, as well as the latter-day embrace of neo-Nazi factions in some quarters.” German troops were welcomed in Ukraine in 1941 and by the end of the war half of Ukraine’s estimated 2.7 million Jews were eliminated. Now the Jewish population is between 56,000 and 140,000, but just last month a law was passed criminalizing antisemitic acts because of the uptick in public displays.
Part of the problem is that some notable WWII Nazi collaborators such as Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) have been memorialized with statues and the naming of streets. In 2010, outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko named Bandera “Hero of Ukraine, sparking anger in Europe, Poland and Israel. Yushchenko’s replacement, President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian supporter, stripped Bandera of that hero title. Following Yanukovych’s departure in 2014, Kyiv’s Moscow Avenue was named Stepan Bandera Avenue in 2016 but in 2021 a court overturned that decision. In 2019, Lviv, in Western Ukraine, a hotbed of support for Bandera, established the ‘Year of Stepan Bandera’ sparking protests from Israeli and Poland, a mere forty-six miles to the west. As recently as 2021, again in Lviv, a debate over Stepan Bandera, was reignited when authorities asked that the Lviv arena be renamed in honor of Bandera—an attempt to force Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to take a stand and pick a side during that election in which his rival was further right. As of now, the Lviv Arena’s name had not been changed.
Joshua Tartakovsky, lost family members on both sides to German and Ukrainian fascists during WWII. He wrote in a January 2015 article following violent protests in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti that resulted after efforts to more closely align Ukraine with the west failed when then-President Yanukovych caved under pressure from Russia, “While some have argued there are no fascists in Ukraine and that protesters in Maidan came from a wide gamut of Ukraine’s civil society, in the US Congress, difficult questions were asked about US support for the neo-Nazi Right Sector and in Russia, alarm was raised when pictures of protesters wearing Nazi insignia, and later Ukrainian army soldiers with fascist beliefs, were revealed.” Mr. Tartakovsly had traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, in December 2014 to study historical articles in an effort to understand Ukrainian fascist involvement. His research revealed that, “Right Sector gangs were integrated into the National Guard and sent to fight in East Ukraine while the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, accused of committing war crimes in the East, has attracted many Nazis. It has become undeniable that neo-Nazi units are operating in Ukraine with full governmental support.” Azov members’ uniforms are adorned with swastikas and patches celebrating Nazism.
The United States actually supported Azov through our aiding and training of Ukrainian forces from 2014 to 2018. In 2018, however, the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill stipulated that “none of the funds made available by this act may be used to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.” How this would be managed once money makes it to Ukraine for other military purposes is anyone’s guess.
During the past decade, far-right groups such as Svoboda (formerly the Social National Party of Ukraine) have made some gains politically in Ukraine. In the 2012 election, the ultranationalist Svoboda (“Freedom”) party won 37 seats. Since then, they have not fared as well. In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections they managed to secure a few mayor seats in West Ukraine but were unable to extend their base of support in other areas of the country.
Josh Cohen, wrote as recently at March 2018 for Reuters that Ukraine’s government must contend with a growing problem of far-right vigilantes willing to intimidate and use violence to advance their agendas, often with tacit approval of law enforcement. Ukraine’s “National Militia”—a newly-formed ultranationalist group—contains many members from the Azov movement that helped during the 2014 Ukraine war with Russia. Some think they have been reigned in since then but others are not so sure. Azov was one of some 30 privately-funded “volunteer battalions” that helped the regular army fight against Russia’s separatists in Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Many Ukrainians are grateful for the help of these groups in the past. Some groups have been integrated into the armed force, but some such as Azov resist full integration and maintain their separate identity running children training camps and encouraging transfer to Azov from regular military units. Azov and other militias have attacked activist activities such as anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings. These include brutal attacks on the 2018 International Women’s Day marches in several Ukrainian cities. A March 30, 2022 article by CNN attempted to downplay the ideology and presence of Azov, but I’ve found too much other information about the group to agree with CNN. And, there’s more to Ukraine’s history with far-right groups than just Azov.
A sense of indebtedness to these groups for their help during the 2014 war makes this a challenging situation, but Putin’s claim that Ukraine is ‘full’ of Nazis is false. Since 2012 far-right parties have performed poorly in parliamentary elections, but the connection between law enforcement that allows extremist groups to patrol streets in Kyiv is cause for concern. High-ranking and popular political figures sympathetic with the far-right groups make this even more complex and protecting those whom these groups would target more difficult.
So, it’s not just trouble from Putin that Ukraine faces. They have challenges within that may ultimately tear the country apart.
In spite of Putin’s alleged “protecting” Ukrainians from Nazi, securing the Donbas is a main goal. The Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine along the Russia border has been a source of unrest since 2014 following the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv. Known for its coal resources, it suffered under Nazi occupation during 1941 and 1942. In 1943 the area was returned to Soviet control but the war took its toll leaving the region destroyed and depopulated. A large majority of voters in the Donbas region supported independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but the area suffered major economic problems and many blamed the central government in Kyiv. Many felt they had supported independence for more local control, not moving centralized control from Moscow to Kyiv. Worker strikes in 1993 resulted in some economic concessions from Kyiv but the Donbas region gained no autonomy. Small strikes continued throughout the 1990s but demands for autonomy faded. Donbas power ultimately became concentrated in the regional political elite during the early 2000s and rampant corruption resulted. The area still has many Russia devotees who would like that area to be part of Russia, but polls show only 71% support “protection” by Russia. This year Putin recognized Donbas’ right to independence and on February 24, 2022 waged war on Ukraine, including the heavy bombing of Mariupol, a key seaport of Donbas. So much for protecting Donbas and the rest of Ukraine from Nazis!
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