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German authorities downplaying role of neo-Nazis in Ukraine — Bundestag member

According to Sevim Dagdelen, the attacks on Russian borderline have been carried out by "units linked to the Ukrainian army, which the German government has been arming on a massive scale"

BERLIN, August 3./TASS/. Germany’s ruling authorities are downplaying the role of neo-Nazis in Ukraine and turning a blind eye to the open veneration of fascists in that country, Sevim Dagdelen, a member of the Bundestag (German parliament) from the opposition Left Party, said on social media.

"At the same time that<...> [Germany’s political establishment] calls for ruling out cooperation with representatives of [domestic] right-wing forces [within any of the country’s governmental structures], [the German authorities are] soft-pedaling the actual role played by neo-Nazis in Ukraine, or deliberately turning a blind eye to the open veneration of fascists [by Ukrainians]," the politician claimed in a video address uploaded to her page on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as an extremist organization).

So, neo-Nazi groups "have repeatedly organized attacks on Russian borderline towns from Ukraine" in recent months, the parliamentarian elaborated. Such attacks have been carried out by "units linked to the Ukrainian army, which the German government has been arming on a massive scale," the opposition politician emphasized.

She also condemned the former Soviet republic's open veneration of "Ukraine's biggest Nazi collaborator and anti-Semite," Stepan Bandera, after whom "streets and boulevards are named" and "dozens of statues [of him] have been erected."

"Therefore, those who are seriously talking about [the ban on cooperation with] right-wing forces [in Germany] should apply it in the case of Ukraine as well; otherwise this [discussion] will simply remain at the level of empty, tactical, partisan blather," she concluded.

A public debate on the limits of cooperation by the German ruling establishment with right-wing political forces was initiated this summer against the backdrop of electoral successes scored by the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.