DISINFO: Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance is anti-Russian
SUMMARY
The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has a clear mission – to stigmatise the Soviet’s past and to justify the Ukrainian nationalists. It has to develop a state ideology directed against Russia and the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about anti-Russian sentiments in Ukraine and in the West. The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance is not directed against Russia or the Soviet past. It was established on 31 May 2006, as a special governmental institution for the restoration and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people. The Institute directs the decommunisation process in Ukraine and provides access to state archives concerning repression during the Soviet past in accordance with the law “On access to the archives of repressive bodies of the communist totalitarian regime from 1917-1991”. The Institute has three main functions: first, to restore, preserve, and promote the national memory of the Ukrainian people; second, to prevent the use of symbols of totalitarian regimes; third, to promote patriotism, national consciousness, and active position among Ukrainian citizens.