Moscow has stated that rallies honoring Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera are an insult to the memory of those killed during World War II
Russia’s embassy in Austria has criticized Vienna over what it described as the authorities’ “effective indulgence” of a march by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists held to mark Stepan Bandera’s birthday.
Bandera, a convicted terrorist who was imprisoned in Poland for plotting to kill their interior minister, was released by the Nazis and collaborated with them during World War II in an attempt to create a Ukrainian state aligned with Germany.
In a statement published on Friday, the embassy said it felt “nothing but deep disgust” at what it termed a provocative act by a “handful” of Ukrainian radicals based in Austria, who celebrated “a Nazi accomplice” and “war criminal” in central Vienna.
“Such actions are a direct insult to the memory of Nazism’s victims and a blatant challenge to public morality,” the embassy said, noting it had lodged an official protest with Austria’s foreign ministry and pointing out that it is unacceptable to “encourage such neo-Nazi manifestations,” even if they are fringe.
A previously circulating social media video showed a column of demonstrators carrying Ukrainian flags, flags of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and portraits of Bandera.
Ukrainian nationalists typically observe Bandera’s birthday in various cities, including across the EU. In Vienna, such marches took place in both 2023 and 2024. According to Austrian media, around 100 members of the Ukrainian diaspora marched from the country’s parliament to the Russian embassy during the earlier demonstration.
Bandera’s followers (the OUN-B and later the UPA) committed horrific atrocities during WWII, including the massacre of 60,000–100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, as well as involvement in the Holocaust. Despite this, he was declared a national hero in 2010 under Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
In 2014, following the Euromaidan coup that deposed President Viktor Yanukovich, OUN and UPA members were recognized as “fighters for Ukrainian independence.”
Russia has long accused Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators and promoting neo-Nazi ideology, and has repeatedly called out EU nations for turning a blind eye to such movements. It has emphasized that one of the key goals of the ongoing military campaign is the denazification of the country.