The Atlantic Council published an expose of the neo-Nazi power over the polity and society of Ukraine on June 20, 2018. Under the headline: “Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence (And No, RT Didn’t Write This Headline),” Josh Cohen (a former USAID project officer who managed economic reform projects throughout the former Soviet Union) quite accurately demonstrated that despite their relatively small numbers and lack of success in elections, the Nazis have sway over policy. Thanks to Moon of Alabama for uncovering the article.
Cohen wrote: “It sounds like the stuff of Kremlin propaganda, but it’s not.” He reports that the government is funding “the neo-Nazi group C14 to promote `national patriotic education projects’ in the country…. Since the beginning of 2018, C14 and other far-right groups such as the Azov-affiliated National Militia, Right Sector, Karpatska Sich, and others have attacked Roma groups several times, as well as anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, an event hosted by Amnesty International, art exhibitions, LGBT events, and environmental activists. On March 8, violent groups launched attacks against International Women’s Day marchers in cities across Ukraine. In only a few of these cases did police do anything to prevent the attacks, and in some they even arrested peaceful demonstrators rather than the actual perpetrators…. Amnesty International warned that `Ukraine is sinking into a chaos of uncontrolled violence posed by radical groups and their total impunity. Practically no one in the country can feel safe under these conditions.’ Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Front Line Defenders warned in a letter that radical groups acting under `a veneer of patriotism’ and `traditional values’ were allowed to operate under an `atmosphere of near total impunity that cannot but embolden these groups to commit more attacks.’”
