Russian disinformation about Ukrainian Nazism

Someone was alluding to Russia’s claim that the invasion of Ukraine was to tackle Ukrainian Nazism.

If we had called out Zelensky, American support for Ukraine would not have been there and America would be involved in one less “New War[s]”.

In direct reaction to that comment, I spent three hours reading up on Zelensky, accusations of Nazism in Ukraine, accusations against military units and political parties in Ukraine and comparing what has been said from different sources. I read up on the American position, the Israeli view, the view of Ukrainian Jewish groups and the Jewish international media.

I have no axe to grind here, it was genuine impartial curiosity.

Apart from Russian disinformation, there is nothing of any significance in what this person was alluding to. Various media, government, NGO and social groups have looked at what had been going on in Ukraine regarding Nazism, far right politics, treatment of Jews,involvement of Jews in Ukrainian government and military and the like and concluded there was nothing going on that is unusual for 21st century Europe.

The American government did indeed discuss and analyse the accusations about Zelensky and Ukraine and concluded the accusations did not stand up and decided continued support was the right thing to do. This decision was later supported by Jewish academics, media and Ukrainian Jewish groups.

So, what this person was wishing for, did indeed happen, and it concluded continued American support for Ukraine was appropriate.

In short, the reason for the Russian invasion of Ukraine was false.

The reflective part of this is that I am so pleased I did my undergrad and Master’s degrees.  Between the lecturers, librarians and other support and training I had, my already-existing research skills were strengthened by the ability to find counterarguments, be open-minded, evaluate sources, understand political and media biases and find an answer for myself in which I can be confident.  Although my conclusion above is lightweight and unreferenced, in three hours I covered a heck of a lot of different sources very efficiently.  I’m please I can do that.

 

One thought on “Russian disinformation about Ukrainian Nazism

  1. Hello from Russia. I came to your site from a google link to a note about Chinese scammers. I saw that this is a blog of a British author and decided to see what is written here about my country. Found this post and would like to give my comment on this topic.

    In this post you write that you studied materials regarding Ukrainian Nazism, studied sources from different sides (you name American, Israeli, Ukrainian, Jewish points of view). But, wait a minute, I want to ask you these questions:

    1. Why do you think that the word Nazism refers exclusively to Jews? You are not aware that in this case it is not about Jews and their persecution or discrimination at all. It’s about Nazism. Nazism also in relation to Russians. Towards the Russian language and its discrimination in Ukraine.

    Even before Russia’s special military operation (that’s how we call this war), I was watching the YouTube channel of Ukrainian blogger Anatoliy Shariy, who was producing materials devoted to this problem. Do you know such an expression as “who doesn’t jump, is a Moskal”? This is a Nazi slogan that was shouted by people who gathered in squares in Ukraine and jumped, expressing their attitude (hatred) towards Russian people. And all this was even before this war started.

    If you went out on the street in Ukraine to celebrate 9 May (it is a great holiday, victory day, which was celebrated in the USSR after 1945, and is celebrated now in Russia) and congratulate veterans – you could just get beaten up, different ultras could come up to you and just beat you up.

    This is what is called Nazism in Ukraine, and Jews have nothing to do with it. You say you have no self-serving motive, but with the word Russia you only call the word disinformation. You haven’t checked the Russian point of view. I don’t get it.

    2. also Anatoliy Shariy, a blogger from Ukraine, has repeatedly pointed out that Russian-speaking Ukrainians have been harassed, beaten and sometimes even killed in Ukraine. This is what is called Nazism. What do Jews have to do with this? What do they have to do with any of this? It’s not about that at all. And this despite the fact that more than 60 per cent of Ukrainians speak Russian.

    And this despite the fact that Zelensky himself originally spoke Russian when he worked as a comedian (and in his family also communicated in Russian). And now he is all Ukrainian-speaking. And he speaks only Ukrainian. This is such blatant and disgusting hypocrisy.

    3. But you’re right about one thing. Nazism in Ukraine is not the main reason why Russia decided to attack. The main reason is NATO expansion to the east. Despite all the “guarantees” of the Western partners who promised us that there would be no expansion, NATO continued to expand and came close to our borders. Nobody kept their promises and we were forced to defend ourselves. So we attacked first. In order not to have another NATO country armed and pumped with weapons against Russia. And what do we have now? Everything is exactly the same as in 1941-1945 – Russia (and earlier USSR) is at war against “united Europe” (and USA), which sponsors our opponent with weapons and technologies. Who is adequate here? It’s all pretty obvious to me. I don’t understand why you haven’t looked at the Russian point of view on all this. It’s enough just to watch our president’s interview with Tucker Carlson, for example. He speaks directly and honestly about everything.

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