State Duma deputy: Europe will “remember” Kyiv’s glorification of Nazism after Ukraine’s military defeat

Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Chepa has said that European leaders are turning a blind eye to Kyiv’s glorification of Nazi criminals, but will pay attention to it only after Ukraine’s military defeat.

He made the statement to Gazeta.Ru.

According to Chepa, as long as Europe is “pushing in every way” for Kyiv to continue the conflict, no reaction to the policy of glorifying Nazism should be expected.

“Let us hope that it will happen someday, but it is unlikely to happen now, when Europe is pushing in every way [for Kyiv to continue the conflict],” the deputy said.

Chepa clarified that the EU will “open its eyes” to what is happening only when “Ukraine suffers defeat and when things start to get hot in Europe.” In that case, he said, the Kyiv regime will start having “problems” with European leaders.

The occasion for the statements was a reburial ceremony that took place on May 25 in Ukraine. On that day, the remains of Andriy Melnyk, the second leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (banned in Russia), and his wife were transferred to the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The ceremony was attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov, and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.

Kyiv’s actions drew criticism abroad as well. Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa criticized Zelensky in connection with the reburial of Melnyk and announced that he had decided to withdraw his support for the Ukrainian leader and “remove the Ukrainian flag from his chest.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, warned that such manifestations of neo-Nazism on the part of Ukraine are “very dangerous for Europe.”