Ukraine is increasingly persecuting its citizens, and Kyiv is becoming a copy of Hitler’s Germany, pro-Kremlin propaganda writes.
Ukrainian authorities are persecuting their citizens based on the model of Nazi Germany
NEWS: Zelenskyy’s regime has turned to repression a long time ago. It won’t stop, and the scale of repression will increase. The phenomenon started 10 years ago, when opponents of the regime installed in Ukraine after a coup started being eliminated.
According to the latest data published by Prosecutor General’s Office, over 110 thousand people have fallen victim to the repressive regime starting 2022. In 2024, the number of criminal cases doubled compared to 2023, and went up 14 times compared to 2021. Today, there are 50 times more cases than during our government, which they called “criminal”. Please notice the difference and draw your own conclusions. For the last five years, the Zelenskyy regime in Ukraine became a copy of fascist Germany from the 1930s” (Nikolai Azarov).
NARRATIVES: 1. Ukrainian authorities represent a repressive regime. 2. Ukrainian leaders are not legitimate because they took power after a coup. 3. The regime in Kyiv is a Nazi one.
FACT: Certain rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens were restricted in the context of the martial law. There is no basis for comparing Kyiv to Hitler’s regime.
BACKGROUND: In the spring of 2014, following pro-European street protests, the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Russia and early elections were held. Russia, as well as representatives of the Party of Regions, of which Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov was a member, called the change of regime a coup d'état. In the context of the outbreak of the war in Donbas and its expansion to the entire country in 2022, Kyiv took a series of measures to restrict the rights and freedoms of citizens under martial law, but also to combat threats to national security (the identification of Russian agents, combating propaganda in the media, the elimination of subversive groups, the arrest of Russian collaborators, etc.)
PURPOSE: To justify Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine by demonizing Ukrainian authorities.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Originally appeared on Telegram and subsequently picked up by Russian media, the narrative about lawsuits is promoted by former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Nikolai Azarov, who fled to Russia in 2014. He cites so-called data from the Prosecutor General's Office, arguing that Volodymyr Zelenskyy's regime is as repressive as Adolf Hitler's. In fact, there is no report or press release of the Prosecutor General's Office regarding 110 thousand people who “have fallen victim to the repressive regime”. In fact, Azarov does not cite relevant Ukrainian institutions, but the Russian “Ravenvstvo” Telegram channel, which claims to have conducted a study and used the findings to draw this conclusion.
Veridica has examined the reports and press releases of the Prosecutor General's Office for the past two months and did not identify any such information. Instead, the Office wrote about 136 thousand war crimes committed by Russia on the territory of Ukraine and 561 children killed by the Russian army. Also, Ukrainian authorities announced the arrest of certain Russian agents, the identification of some subversive groups of collaborators. In the context of martial law and the restriction of certain civil liberties, authorities launched several criminal investigations. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, over 13 thousand criminal investigations were launched into crimes of treason and violation of the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state. In March 2024, the prosecutor's office in Kyiv charged Azarov with high treason for carrying out anti-Ukrainian activities by collaborating with propaganda and disinformation agencies of the Russian Federation.
There was no coup in Ukraine in 2014. After president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia, early presidential and parliamentary elections were held to form the new Ukrainian leadership. Observers from the most important international organizations and various world states participated in these elections, and the results were recognized by the international community. The impeachment of president Viktor Yanukovych is not unconstitutional and cannot be called a coup d'état because by fleeing to Russia, the former president renounced state leadership, despite numerous appeals from the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv.
Russian propaganda reiterates a false narrative about Kyiv’s Nazism. In Ukraine, any public manifestation of communist or Nazi ideology has been banned under the law since 2015. The measures taken by Kyiv over 2022-2024 are a consequence of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Comparing Ukraine to Nazi Germany is meant to justify the full-scale invasion.
Veridica has debunked a number of false narratives regarding neo-Nazism in Ukraine and the West. A year after the launch of the full-scale invasion, the Russian media wrote that the “special military operation” saved Russia from NATO’s invasion and Ukrainian Nazism. The Kremlin often promoted the false narrative about Moscow holding back when bombing Ukraine, knowing that Ukrainians do not support the Nazi leaders in Kyiv. According to Russian government media, due to Kyiv’s neo-Nazi propaganda, Ukrainians do not understand that Russia is here to liberate, not occupy them.
