The Ukrainian regime itself has neo-Nazi leanings and Nazi sympathizers in its midst, the Russian government does not. In fact, it is part of NATO and zionist propaganda to try to suggest there is no difference between the two states in this regard. But this is a fallacy, and quite a preposterous one at that.
In 2016, the city of Kiev renamed a major avenue to honor Stepan Bandera, local WW2 collaborator of Nazi Germany:
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Kiev renames major street to honor Russian Nazi collaborator
Stepan Bandera’s nationalist group urged Ukranians to ‘destroy’ Jews and Poles in the 1940s
By
Agencies and
TOI staff
7 July 2016, 10:03 pm
https://www.timesofisrael.com/kiev-renames-major-street-to-honor-russian-nazi-collaborator/
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According to some, the above information represents "Kremlin propaganda". I wasn't aware that the "Times of Israel" is a mouthpiece for the Russian presidency, nor that "Google Earth" is controlled by the latter.
Now, could you point me to an equivalent to this anywhere in Russia? This is as if the city of Moscow named a street in the center of Moscow after Bronislav Kaminski - simply unthinkable.
Here you can see members of the Kiev City Council - who are not members to any neo-Nazi group, chant "Bandera is out father":
This too was considered "Kremlin propaganda". And yet it's factual. And again, nothing like this would be even remotely possible at the Moscow municipality.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany of all places, Andrei Melnik, declared having laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Stepan Bandera (located in Germany), whom he referred to as "our hero". Any Russian diplomat on the record for praising a Nazi collaborator? Negative.
https://detv.us/2022/03/16/stop-demonizing-the-azov-regiment-rt-en/
Below that, the user linked a tweet by Melnyk from 2015. In it, Melnyk referred to a visit to the grave of Ukrainian fascist and anti-Semite Stephan Bandera, whom he honored with a bouquet of flowers. Melnyk wrote at the time:
“At the beginning of my visit to Munich, I met representatives of the UKR and laid flowers at the grave of our hero Stepan Bandera.”
Furthermore, the Great Patriotic War as the Soviet defense against national-socialist Germany during WW2 is referred to in Russia, is upheld in the collective memory of the Russian people by authorities in Moscow. Along with the original anti-fascist ideology coined by Josef Stalin, it occupies a central place in the formulation of modern Russian national identity, and forms a centerpiece of Russian political culture.
Here some academic publications on the topic:
C. McDaniel, Russia’s Proud Past and Patriotic Identity: A Case Study of Historical Accounts in Contemporary Russian History Textbooks. Modern Languages Open, 2018, (1) 26, pp. 1–33.
https://www.modernlanguagesopen.org/articles/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.239/galley/303/download/
Vera Tolz, Forging the Nation: National Identity and Nation Building in Post-Communist Russia, Europe-Asia Studies, 1998, Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 993-1022. https://www.jstor.org/stable/154053
E.A. Wood, Performing memory: Vladimir Putin and the celebration of World War II in Russia, Soviet and Post Soviet Review, 2011, 38 (2), pp. 172-200.
scholar.google.com
S. Bernstein, Remembering War, Remaining Soviet: Digital Commemoration of World War II in Putin’s Russia, Memory Studies, 2016, 9 (4), pp. 422-436.
scholar.google.com
E.F. Krinko, Modern Russian Historiography of the Great Patriotic War: Results of the Couple of Decades, Old times, 2008, 4 (14), pp. 6-21.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_...mes&volume=4&pages=6-21&publication_year=2009
Which is why 8 May is a major holiday in Russia, and why a military parade commemorating the USSR's victory over Nazism is held every year in Moscow. The entire event is held under the banner of the commemoration of the anti-fascist resistance during WW2:
WW2 veterans who fought at the frontlinesagainst Nazism have systematically been seated in the first rows at the parade:
The pervasiveness of this firm anti-fascist legacy was seen reflected in the Soviet flags flown by the Russian armed forces during their current military operation in Ukraine:
The flags were also raised by Russian-speakers of eastern Ukraine and Crimea at various gatherings:
By contrast, not only is there no state sponsorship for the remembrance of WW2 victory over Nazism in present day Ukraine, but opposite narratives focusing on anti-communism and favoring local Nazi collaborators such as Bandera, happen to be dominant in Ukrainian society.
In conclusion, there can be no comparison between Russia and Ukraine when it comes to Nazism and Nazi ideology.
