MOSCOW, May 07. /ITAR-TASS/. The tragedy breaking out in the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa is sheer fascism and Russia will not permit to revive this ideology and sweep facts under carpet, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a flower-laying ceremony on the occasion of Victory Day on Wednesday.

“For many years Europe has been turning a blind eye to the fact how this ideology [fascism] is acquiring new supporters, how former Waffen SS legionaries found as war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials stage marches,” the minister said.

Lavrov noted that current events in Ukraine “are already not just marches with slogans glorifying Nazi criminals, but a ‘live’ manifestation of fascism.” “What happened in the city of Odessa on May 2 is a sheer act of fascism and we will not permit to sweep the facts under carpet as the ruling coalition tries to do so, concealing the investigation from the public.”

“We will seek for the truth, will seek for all evidence which was produced by eyewitnesses and which show that current Kiev authorities are hushing up consciously the scale of tragedy and will seek for all the truth to be investigated and made public,” the Russian foreign minister pledged.

“We will not permit to revive fascism in Europe, and moreover in Russia,” Lavrov added.

What happened in Odessa

According to local authorities, as a result of unrest and a fire in Odessa, 46 people died and over 200 sought medical aid on May 2. Unrest in Odessa started Friday afternoon after a mass brawl on the Grecheskaya Street. The fight was started by football fans, who came from Kharkiv, Right Sector activists, as well as Maidan self-defense forces from Kiev that intended to stage a march on the streets of Odessa. They triggered clashes with Ukraine’s federalization supporters.

The radicals set on afire a tent camp on the Kulikovo Field, where signatures for holding a referendum on Ukraine’s federalization and the status of Russian language were collected. People from the tent camp hid in the House of trade unions, where the fire broke out.

According to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, the house was set on fire by activists who occupied the building. However, multiple video recordings from the site of the incident and eyewitnesses point to the fact that the fire broke out after bottles with flame liquid were thrown at the building.