DISINFO: West glorifies Nazism
SUMMARY
The recent scandal in the Canadian Parliament, which gave a standing ovation to 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi Yaroslav Gunko, who served in the SS division "Galicia" during the Second World War, had unexpected consequences. The Nazi was also applauded by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the leader of the Kyiv regime, who was in Canada on a visit, once again convincingly showing where his sympathies lie. This event turned out to be a litmus test, once again clearly showing what kind of people are in power today in Western countries. Among them are not only "sympathizers" of Nazism, but also direct descendants of Nazis, and not only in Canada.
RESPONSE
Disinformation accusing the West of nurturing Nazism following a blunder during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada in September 2023. The Canadian parliament gave a standing ovation honouring a veteran later accused of belonging to a Waffen SS division in WWII. The fact that Yaroslav Hunko was invited to the Canadian parliament despite his time in the Waffen SS does not prove that the country is ruled by fascists. The Canadian Prime Minister recognised that the incident was deeply embarrassing and Liberal MP Anthony Rota apologised and is stepping down as House of Commons Speaker.
The myth of “Nazi Ukraine” has been widely used by Putin and pro-Kremlin outlets since Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. It is also being used to justify Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. Nazi and Communist ideologies were banned by Ukrainian law in 2015.
Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
Background:
Some surviving members of the Galicia Division, who were Polish citizens until the onset of WWII, were admitted as refugees to Canada. Immigration was prohibited for members of the Nazi party, the SS, Waffen SS (an equally heinous military branch of the SS), the German Wehrmacht or regular armed forces, and collaborators. However, non-Germans conscripted into the Waffen SS after 1942 were exempted from this prohibition in 1951.
The special Canadian Deschênes Commission on war criminals, convened in October 1986, concluded the following in relation to membership in the Galicia Division: 'The Galicia Division should not be indicted as a group,' 'The members of the Galicia Division were individually screened for security purposes before admission to Canada,' and 'in the absence of evidence of participation in or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere membership in the Galicia Division is insufficient to justify prosecution'.
See other false claims of pro-Kremlin media related to WWII.
Russia uses accusations of 'Nazism' to destroy Ukraine, including targeting civilians, women and children amid full scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022. Ukrainians are dehumanised up to being called "animals" by pro-Kremlin media. President Putin made an outlandish claim that the Jewish origin of Volodymyr Zelensky is a cover for his Nazism.