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by cancancan 3578 days ago
But neo-nazis like Andriy Parubiy did play a significant role.

The guy founded Social-National Party of Ukraine together with Oleh Tyahnybok. There's nothing "nazi" about them, they are nazi and they're not trying to hide it at all. Look at the logo of the party they founded, look at the Azov Battalion insignia.

Parubiy first became the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council mostly managing paramilitary units and now he is the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament. Tyahnybok made it to the top list of antisemites, published by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Journalist in Kiev are being killed on a regular basis. Alexander Shchetinin was found shot dead in his apartment today. A month ago car bomb killed Pavel Sheremet.

Russian trolls are the least of your problems.
1 comments
kozak 3577 days ago
That's actually a nice example of the very propaganda we are speaking about. It's hard to find someone farther removed from being a "nazi" than Parubiy. And yet, here this comment is, coming from a freshly registered account.

And the Azov insignia is just a stylized state emblem of Ukraine. Seeing swastikas everywhere is an important part of the approach, I guess.

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_delirium 3577 days ago
It's hardly only Russian media has pointed out a connection between the Azov Battalion and neo-Nazism. Even the United States Congress, usually no friend of Russia, cut off funding in 2015 due to these connections. There's a bit of a summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion#Neo-Nazi_ideolo...

The leader of the battalion, Biletsky, is also involved in this nice organization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-National_Assembly

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kozak 3577 days ago
Azov are kind of right-wing (although not outright "nazi"), but this judgement is not (and should not be) based on how their insignia looks. And also, Azov has no connection to Parubiy at all (Azov just reused that unlucky old logo out of the blue).

There is a cultural difference in what Ukrainians and Russians mean when they say "nation". In Ukraine, when you say "nation" you mean basically the same as what a USA president would mean under this word. But in Russia, the word "nation" is considered to be synonymous with "nazi", and is generally avoided.

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cancancan 3577 days ago
The funny thing is that Tyahnybok is the one that tried to tone down the Parubiy's nazi-like styling. Parubiy was involved in pretty much all neo-nazi and ultra right groups. Social-National Party of Ukraine, Patriot of Ukraine, Svoboda, various paramilitary units, etc.

> Seeing swastikas everywhere is an important part of the approach, I guess.

That's a nice way to dismiss it, but it doesn't help the fact that they went to a great length to emulate the nazi branding. The name of the party, lovely evening torchlight parades [1], and even the decorations at speaking events [2].

1] http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/30/article-2616531-1D...

2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Congress_of_the_Pa...

EDIT: some formatting issues

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