Russian Diplomat Reminds Israeli Ambassador About What Banderites Did in Ukraine

The Russian foreign ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova added that "not a single organization for protecting the memory of Holocaust survivors raised an eyebrow" at Brodsky’s remarks

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. The Russian foreign ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, reminded Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Brodsky about the "ethnic policy" against Jews, conducted in Ukraine by nationalist Stepan Bandera and his followers.

In an earlier interview to Israel’s Iton, Brodsky said that Ukrainians were in the process of "searching for their national heroes" at this point, mentioning nationalist leaders such as Bandera, Andrey Melnik and Roman Shukhevich. He stressed that although his country had a totally different opinion about these individuals, it would be wrong to put forward the demand to "stop renaming streets or portraying Bandera or Melnik as heroes" as a precondition for international support to Ukraine.

"Since there is no one else to defend the victims of the Holocaust but us, let me remind Mr Brodsky about the ethnic policy of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, with Stepan Bandera at its helm," Zakharova wrote on Telegram. "In fact, there was a massive effort to exterminate, burn and bury, without any burials or markers, Jews in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, and these inhumans were proactive in assisting this effort. About 1.4 million people perished this way."

Zakharova added that "not a single organization for protecting the memory of Holocaust survivors raised an eyebrow" at Brodsky’s remarks.

"The Holocaust must be remembered not only because it happened in the past, but also to make sure that it never happens again, and not just against a single ethnic group or religion, but against any of them," the spokeswoman continued.

"These were not heroes, but demons, and this was not an identity, but a disgrace for the people of Ukraine," she said. "This is an act of glorifying Nazism.".