US – Israeli tension: White House officials express disappointment with Israel’s neutrality over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula
Ukraine’s Jewish community has been thrust into the international spotlight in recent weeks amid Russian claims that the overthrow of the Yanukovych government in Kiev has led to outbreaks of anti-Semitism across Ukraine. These claims have been used to justify Russia’s invasion, occupation and subsequent annexation of Crimea, but they have been hotly disputed by a host of Ukrainian Jewish leaders.
The country’s Chief Rabbis and community leaders have issued numerous statements flatly contradicting Russia’s anti-Semitism claims, while America’s special envoy for anti-Semitism has also publicly rebuked the Kremlin for deliberately misleading the international community over the issue. Russia has ignored these protests, and instead continues to warn of anti-Semitic chaos in Ukraine.
In order to address Russia’s anti-Semitism accusations directly, JN1 requested an interview with Ukrainian nationalist leader Dmitro Yarosh. 42-year-old Yarosh rose from obscurity during the Ukrainian protest movement which toppled the corrupt regime of President Viktor Yanukovych. His nationalist umbrella group, Pravy Sektor, played a disproportionately prominent role in Ukraine’s street protests, and has since mushroomed into a full-scale paramilitary force.
Yarosh now finds himself the poster boy of the Kremlin’s campaign to portray the new Ukrainian government as a fascist regime. Russian warrants have been issued for his arrest, and he is also the individual most directly associated with Russia’s anti-Semitism allegations.
Yarosh met with JN1 in the downtown Kiev hotel which he has transformed into his headquarters. He was quick to dismiss Russian anti-Semitism claims as a classic example of Kremlin propaganda, arguing that Vladimir Putin has stretched the truth since Day One of his Crimean invasion.
Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Pravy Sektor nationalists:
“First and foremost, we must conclude from Vladimir Putin’s public statements that he is a liar. Putin makes declarations in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, while at the same time he is busy behind the scenes annexing Crimea and sending soldiers to the region. The same principle applies to Putin’s anti-Semitism claims.”
Yarosh points to the outreach work which his group has carried out in recent weeks with members of the Ukrainian Jewish community and the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine, which has included setting up an anti-Semitism hotline. He also stresses Jewish participation in his nationalist movement – something which he argues is entirely in line with historical precedent.
Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Pravy Sektor nationalists:
“For example, during WWII many Jews served in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Some of these veterans are still alive today, and often give interviews recalling how they fought for an independent Ukraine. During the chaos which followed the 1917 Russian Revolution, an entire Jewish Battalion was formed within the army of the short-lived West Ukrainian People’s Republic. At least 600 Ukrainian Jews are believed to have died fighting the Bolsheviks in this early struggle for an independent Ukraine. We have always respected these people and always will – they are like brothers to us.”
In an echo of Soviet WWII propaganda, Russia has sought to portray Ukraine’s nationalist forces as fascists. It is a charge which Yarosh claims flies in the face of history.
Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Pravy Sektor nationalists:
“Historically, the Ukrainian nationalist movement has always been opposed to the ideologies of German National Socialism, Italian Fascism and Soviet Communism. I would like to stress that the Ukrainian nationalist movement has nothing in common with any of these ideologies. Our forerunners in the WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought against both Nazis and Communists.”
Yarosh believes that international audiences have failed to grasp the true nature of the nationalism in Ukraine, and have been too quick to associate it with the often racist and xenophobic politics of nationalist groups in the Western world. He argues that Ukraine’s nationalists have little in common with such hate-based philosophies, and are ideologically much closer to the great nation-builders of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Pravy Sektor nationalists:
“Our position is clear – we regard ourselves as a national liberation movement. Would it be fair to brand Garibaldi a fascist based on the fact that he fought to unite his Italian homeland? Can we call Charles de Gaulle a fascist for his leadership of the Free French? We see ourselves in the same light as these European leaders, who were also nationalists. Every single one of today’s European nations has had to travel along the road to statehood. Ukraine is now treading the same path.”
An advocate of armed neutrality, Yarosh does not back Ukrainian membership of NATO or the European Union. He dreams of a fully independent and neutral Ukraine becoming a full partner on the international stage. The country he envisages, he says, will be a safe and welcoming place for Ukraine’s Jewish community, where the sometimes troubled relationship between Jews and Ukrainians will be consigned to history.
Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Pravy Sektor nationalists:
“We condemn both the Holodomor and the Holocaust. The first was a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, while the second was a tragedy for the Jewish people. We cannot allow anything like this to ever happen again in Ukraine. Ukrainians used to have a hostile relationship with the Poles, sometimes leading to armed conflict, but today we enjoy friendly neighbourly relations. The same is true of the relationship between Ukrainians and Jews. Our peoples live peacefully side by side in today’s Ukraine. I am more confident than ever that there will be no future conflicts between Ukrainians and Jews.”
The emergence of Pravy Sektor poses some challenging questions for the new Ukrainian government. Many Ukrainians who supported the overthrow of the Yanukvoych regime have been left unnerved by the nationalist group’s continued prominence, but with the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion hanging over Ukraine, Pravy Sektor look set to remain in the public eye.
The Ukrainian Jewish community will continue to monitor the situation cautiously, but at present all the evidence suggests that Kremlin claims of an anti-Semitic threat are rooted in Russian attempts to justify the seizure of Crimea, and bear little relation to the reality on the ground in Ukraine.
