Kiev's Claims Of Zero Tolerance Against Nazism Contradicted By Reality - Russian Diplomat

Kiev's Claims of Zero Tolerance Against Nazism Contradicted by Reality - Russian Diplomat

Ukraine's claims about having a zero-tolerance policy against Nazism do not correspond to the situation on the ground, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Maxim Buyakevich told Sputni

VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd May, 2021) Ukraine's claims about having a zero-tolerance policy against Nazism do not correspond to the situation on the ground, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Maxim Buyakevich told Sputnik.

Last week, some 100 people marched through the center of Kiev to mark the 77th anniversary of the notorious SS Division Galicia, a World War 2 Nazi infantry division composed predominantly of Ukrainian volunteers. Similar marches took place earlier in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

According to the Russian official, the Ukrainian permanent representative claimed that the country had zero tolerance toward the Nazi ideology during the last meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

"We had to point at the recent march of fans of the SS Division Galicia and say that [while] propaganda slogans about zero tolerance against Nazism in Ukraine are all well and good, they run contra to the what is happening on the ground. And the facts are that the police cover and even protect Neo-Nazis who march at the very heart of the Ukrainian capital," Buyakevich said.

The Russian diplomat noted that Ukraine had nothing to respond and also accused the Western partners of turning a blind eye on that issue.

The SS Division Galicia � a military unit that included more than 80,000 volunteers from the Ukrainian region of Galicia � was established on April 28, 1943, to oppose the Soviet Union, which began to make major advances against Nazi Germany and its allies on the Eastern Front of World War 2. The division's personnel has committed numerous atrocities on the territory of the Soviet Union and Poland.

The division existed until mid-1944, when it suffered heavy losses in the battle of Brody during a major Red Army offensive aimed at expelling the Nazi forces from Ukraine and eastern Poland.

Russia, Israel and several other countries have consistently condemned nationalist marches and rallies in Ukraine.