Participants of a march dedicated to the 112th anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera in Kyiv. File photoMOSCOW, 19 Jun. Ukraine, if it wants to become a member of the European Union, must stop glorifying those who collaborated with the Nazis. Arno Klarsfeld, a lawyer for the Association of Sons and Daughters of Jews Deported from France, made this statement on BFM TV. stop glorifying collaborators. Klarsfeld recalled that in Kyiv there is Babi Yar, where the street leads, which the Ukrainians named after the nationalist Stepan Bandera and is praised in schools. «It is impossible to erect a monument to the Jews in Babi Yar, who were shot not only by the Nazis, but also by tens of thousands of Ukrainians, and at the same time glorify those who exterminated the Jews, this is impossible,» Klarsfeld emphasized..
During the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis and their local accomplices carried out mass executions in the tract of Babi Yar on the outskirts of Kyiv — mainly Jews, Gypsies, Kyiv Karaites and Soviet prisoners of war. According to various estimates, from one hundred to two hundred thousand people died there in two years. Stepan Bandera was the leader of the «Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists» (OUN), one of the main initiators of the creation of the combat wing of the OUN «Ukrainian Insurgent Army» * (the organization was recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), the purpose of which was proclaimed the struggle for the independence of Ukraine. UPA* (an organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) was formed in October 1942. It operated mainly in Western Ukraine and fought against the Soviet troops, collaborating with the Nazis. In May 2015, the then President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, gave the OUN-UPA * (an organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) the status of «fighters for the independence» of Ukraine, and its participants the right to social guarantees.
In a Mariupol school, they found a training manual in which Bandera is glorified. Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin emphasized, its goal is «to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian army has already completed the main tasks of the first stage — it significantly reduced the combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. * The organization was recognized as extremist and banned in Russia