Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have mobilized the most radical sectors of Ukrainian nationalism. From Kyiv, Ricardo Marquina has this report narrated by Jon Spier.
With tensions over a possible war with Russia at all-time high, Ukrainian civilians receive military training every weekend.
In an abandoned former Soviet military facility in the suburbs of Kyiv, men and women learn how to use firearms and what to do in an urban conflict.
Ivan, Drill Instructor:
“We are calm. If necessary, we will return to defend our country. We work on it, see? It's the weekend and we've come to train.”
This training is not organized by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but by one of the most active battalions during the war in the east of the country, the AZOV Battalion, often criticized for holding far right and even neo-Nazi positions.
Now, this organization has stepped into politics by creating the "National Corps" party. Its leaders refuse to be classified as ultranationalists or extremists and define themselves as patriots in times of war.
Maxim Zhorin, National Corps Party:
“We position ourselves as Ukrainian nationalists, but we have to understand that the nationalist right in Ukraine is very different from that of Europe or the US. We have other priorities, we face other problems. The biggest of those priorities that we need to resolve is the war with the Russian Federation.”
For Ukraine's sizeable Jewish minority, largely concentrated in the eastern city of Dnieper, worries about the growth of the far right were highest during the 2013 so-called Maidan protests. But when stability returned and with a new leadership in power, concerns about nationalist extremism abated.
Zelig Brez, Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Community Director:
“We believe this is not a major mainstream part of the political environment and the common sense and the people with very good feelings and support and friendship and tolerance is very strong in Ukraine.”
Russian propaganda has portrayed these far-right groups as a fundamental part of Ukraine's politics, but a coalition all the far-right parties failed to make it into the Ukrainian parliament in the last legislative elections.
Kira Rudyk, Leader, Holos Party:
“The amount of people who are supporting (the) really ‘far right movement’ is fairly small. There is no ‘far-right’ party in the Ukrainian parliament. And the latest polls are showing that people are not giving them enough support. So, what we are seeing is just created by the society, limited group of people who are ‘far right’ which I believe would happen in any democratic country.”
The possibility of a large-scale armed conflict persists, and some fear this can give wings to Ukrainian nationalism, including its most radical sectors.
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