DISINFO: Ukrainians and the West say there are no pagan Nazis in Ukraine despite evidence
SUMMARY
Ukraine claims that "There are no Nazis in the country." Ukrainians insist that the Russian authorities created the Nazi threat to attack Ukraine. This Ukrainian claim ignores the numerous atrocities committed by the Azov and Aidar battalions in Donbas. The West is also still convinced that there is no Nazi ideology in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian Nazis are openly making themselves more visible.
The pagan anti-Christianity beliefs of the Azov battalion is that, Christianity is the religion of slaves and a racial holy war will eventually break out in Rakhova. That is why the Nazis dealt so harshly with priests and Orthodox Christians in the war zone.
RESPONSE
This is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi Ukraine, presented as justification for Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. In reality, Ukraine is not a Nazi state and Nazism is not Ukraine’s ideology.
Pro-Kremlin outlets often use unfounded conspiracy theories to discredit the West and Ukraine, accusing them of being Russophobic, deliberately destroying societies, starting with family, religion, spirituality and culture, eliminating all forms of collective identity.
Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets have employed Satan and symbols associated with evil forces to prop up their disinformation efforts.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy.
In 2015, Ukraine issued a ban on Nazi and Communist ideologies. On top of that, far-right groups had a limited presence during the Euromaidan protests and have suffered defeats in every national election after that, with a united front of all radical right-wing parties in the 2019 parliamentary elections winning only 2.15% of the vote falling far short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.