Many in the West are asking questions about the involvement of Ukrainian ultranationalists in EuroMaidan protests in Kyiv. Some allegedly left-wing websites, such as the World Socialist Web Site, publish blatant lies about the EuroMaidan protests and the role that the far right is playing in them. These web-sites are trying to appease Russian imperialists who are doing everything they can to deprive Ukraine of its already weakened independence.

At the moment, there are two things that the West should understand about the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the context of EuroMaidan.

1. As I wrote before, in the article “The Ukrainian revolution is European and national,” EuroMaidan is, among other things, a national revolution against the Kremlin’s imperialism and a nationalist uprising against Russia’s destructive influence on Ukraine. The major share of support for the Ukrainian far right comes from those citizens who do not share far right views but urge for Ukraine’s true independence. This means that it will only be possible to neutralise the far right after Ukraine gains national independence. The far right is being fuelled by the constant threat to Ukrainian statehood rather than the alleged growth of extreme right views in the Ukrainian society. As Roger Griffin wrote in his Modernism and Fascism, the rise of fascism may occur, in particular, due to  “occupation, colonization, or acts of aggression inflicted on [a society] by other societies” (p. 104). Thus, a fight against fascism in Ukraine should always be synonymous with the fight against the attempts to colonise the country. Those who separate these two issues or crack down on the Ukrainian far right without recognising the urgent need for national independence will never be successful in their attempts to neutralise the far right. Moreover, they can make the situation worse.

Ultranationalist and anarchist symbols side by side on the battlefield

2. While the Ukrainian far right has indeed endorsed and used violence against Viktor Yanukovych’s corrupt authoritarian regime and the brutal police who abuse and torture protesters, they are not the only violent force of EuroMaidan. They are joined by many Ukrainian left-wingers and democrats who have become radicalised as a result of the lack of progress from non-violent resistance to the country’s slipping into an outright dicatorship. The majority of the protesters who take to Kyiv’s dead cold streets are tired of Yanukovych’s cynical disregard of their demands and outraged about the police brutality. Their radicalisation is a sad response to the regime’s policies and actions which gave an impetus to a non-aggression pact between the Ukrainian far left and far right who are now on the same side of the barricades. Those commentators who associate violence at EuroMaidan exclusively with the far right are downplaying the causes of the radicalisation of the EuroMaidan protests and – willingly or unwillingly – exonerating Yanukovych’s authoritarian regime.

Photo honoring Ukrainian Kozak near Poland, just 2km from the EU border: “A nation exists as long as there are people ready to protect it. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to its Heroes.”

A Ukrainian child’s Valentines Day card, Feb. 14, 2014