WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2019) Moscow is calling on US authorities and the American public to condemn the right-wing extremist trends in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov told Sputnik.
"We expect the US authorities and the public to condemn any manifestations and support of right-wing radical extremism in Ukraine," Antonov said. "We urge official Washington, civil society and human rights organizations, to finally give an appropriate assessment of the neo-Nazi trends in Ukraine and the Baltic countries."
The first symbolic but important step, he added, could be their support for a Russian-drafted UN General Assembly resolution entitled, "Combating glorification of Nazism, Neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."
Antonov pointed out that this resolution has traditionally been approved by most UN member states, however, in recent years only delegations of the United States and Ukraine have voted against it.
"It's time to tear down this 'wall' immorally covering up the manifestations of neo-Nazism. Such a step would be a tribute to the 'great generation' of Americans, who, together with the Red Army, saved the world from the brown plague," Antonov said. "We must remind the entire world that they were saved from the greatest evil only due to our solidarity in that fight, and only this solidarity is the guarantee of a secure future."
The United States, he added, should have already received information about the creeping rehabilitation in Ukraine of Third Reich accomplices responsible for the massacres of civilians - including Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, the Polish people and Soviet prisoners of war.
In addition, Washington should have already received news about the renaming of streets in Ukraine in honor of criminals, the erection of monuments in their honor, and the persecution of priests of canonical Orthodox Church, the envoy said.
Antonov noted that, just recently, Ukrainian Prime Minister Andrii Goncharu attended the concert of the Sokyra Peruna group that denies the Holocaust.
"This cannot be left without reaction. Otherwise, the same will happen as what happened in Latvia where Minister of Defense [Artis] Pabriks went down to the level of publicly glorifying the Waffen-SS units," he added.
The US Congress has already started to realize the threat posed by the Azov Battalion in Ukraine, Antonov continued.
"The initiative by a number of American lawmakers interested in why the neo-Nazi battalion Azov is not included in the State Department's list of terrorist organizations certainly deserves attention," Antonov said. "The rampant radical right-wing extremism has spread far beyond Ukraine itself. The [US] Congress, apparently following the US intelligence agencies, starts to realize the threat posed by Azov and Americans who had contacts with the battalion."
Earlier in October, a number of US lawmakers in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requested an explanation as to why the United States has not designated the Ukrainian ultranationalist militia group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The Azov Battalion, a right-wing nationalist paramilitary group, has been widely accused of committing war crimes in Donbas.
The Azov Battalion, a right-wing nationalist paramilitary group, has been widely accused of committing war crimes in Donbas.
Antonov also described Washington's support for Ukraine's Mirotvorets website as an outrage.
"The fact that the Ukrainian extremist portal Mirotvorets still operates under the protection of the American Cloudflare service cannot but cause outrage," Antonov said. "After all, it contains personal information on thousands of people disagreeable to Ukrainian extremists, including American journalists who visited the Donbas. Several people, who were on this portal, were killed."
The website is known for revealing personal data on people viewed by Kiev as enemies of the state, including Ukrainian and foreign journalists who have covered the conflict in Donbas in the country's east, public figures who have visited Crimea, and others. Some of these people face threats and travel bans as a result.
