More than 2,200 questions have been answered in NRK . Answers About the war between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the most frequently asked questions revolve around the alleged Nazism in Ukraine.
Why remove Nazi Russia from Ukraine?
Russia provided a number of reasons for entering Ukraine.
Their desire to “de-Nazify” the country is one of them. Russian authorities claimed that Ukraine was ruled by the Nazis.
The claim that Ukraine should be infected by the Nazis is part of the Putin regime’s propaganda that would justify regime change in Kyiv, answers Oslo political scientist Jörn Holm Hansen dead.
Avoidance is pure propaganda that has no roots in reality, answers Bjorn Olaf Knutsen, Professor of Social Sciences at Nord University.
However, Ukraine has not been completely free of Nazi and neo-Nazi thinking in recent years.
A shopping mall was completely damaged after the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian city of Odessa this week.
Photo: OLEKSANDR GIMANOV / AFP
What about the Azov Battalion?
Much interest in Ukrainian neo-Naziism has been linked to the so-called Azov Battalion. It originated from a far-right organization. This group is now fighting against Russia.
He writes Faktisk.no.
Kåre Dahl Martinsen, a professor in the Department of Defense Studies, believes that the Azov Battalion has been critically described on a regular basis in recent years. However, they are important for Ukraine now.
– The type of demands we can make are limited as long as we do not send our soldiers to Ukraine. Since the Ukrainian forces are a clear minority compared to the invading army, I cannot fully imagine that the Western countries would demand the dissolution of the battalion.
Archive: Members of the Azov Battalion during a march in March 2020.
Photo: SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP
Jörn Holm Hansen answers as follows:
– When Ukraine takes out the occupiers and we will help them in the reconstruction, there may be reason to choose two things. The first is the Azov Regiment, a far-right group that was incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard in 2014. To what extent have they become conservative since then?
Experts say Ukraine has no greater problem with neo-Nazis than other European countries and Russia.
What does Russia really put into the concept of Nazism?
Vladimir Putin compared the fighting in Ukraine to the Soviet war against Nazi Germany.
The latter is an important part of modern Russian history. This fight is strong between the Russians. This is one of the reasons for Russia The victory of World War II is widely represented.
– In this way, the Kremlin’s “Nazi novel” undoubtedly acquires a significant cultural influence in the Russian population, answers Johan Kalsas, doctoral candidate in Russian media and communications at UiB.
Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at a memorial to soldiers who fought during World War II, Monday, May 9.
Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / AP
Gunhild Hoogensen-Gerf, professor of security studies at UiT, believes that Russian interpretations of the term “Nazi” have diverged.
The concept works effectively at least in part in the Russian context to create an anti-Western image, thus mobilizing support for their war.
She explained that the Russians see Nazism as Western because it came from Germany.
At the same time, Nazism mixed with almost everything Western. That is, Western values. LGBTI movements were seen and rights placed under Nazism in that they reflected Western attitudes that would destroy Russia, according to this account.
Gjørv explains that Jews are now also included in this photo, to explain how Ukrainian President Zelensky (who is Jewish) could have supported Nazism.
It seems that Russia is using the term Nazism to convince the Russian people that this is a real enemy. She says that given how far they’ve come, I’m not sure if it’s working the way they want it to.
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