Rossoliński-Liebe, Grzegorz and Willems, Bastiaan (2022) Putin’s Abuse of History : Ukrainian ‘Nazis’, ‘Genocide’, and a Fake Threat Scenario. Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 35 (1). pp. 1-10.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This research note explores the place of Nazism and historical genocide in early-twentieth century Ukraine and the ways in which the evaluation of these historical processes inform current Ukrainian politics. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 was preceded by two speeches by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, in which he promised to ‘denazify’ Ukraine. He further stated that genocide was being committed against the (predominantly Russian-speaking) people of eastern Ukraine, something which his forces were to bring to an immediate halt. The speeches drew on a number of historical parallels – mainly from Ukraine’s Nazi occupation during the Second World War – in an attempt to justify the decision to occupy Ukraine. The language of ‘Ukrainian Nazism and genocide’ became a staple of Russian state media in the weeks following the start of operations, and have permeated everyday life in Russia. In ‘the West’, meanwhile, the use of these terms was met with outrage and misunderstanding, and they were largely considered to be baseless and deliberately inflammatory. By offering a brief overview of the place fascism and genocide held in Ukraine during the Second World War, this research note explores how Ukraine’s turbulent history is being deliberately misconstrued.