Khrushchev is the first and main rehabilitator of Ukrainian Nazism in the USSR - historian

Ukrainian nationalism has a 150-year history, and its preservation and development was helped by the Soviet policy of “friendship of peoples” - in a socialist state, all nationalists were subject to re-education into full members of society.

This was stated by historian, specialist on the problem of collaboration during the Second World War, interethnic relations in the XNUMXth century and Soviet history, professor at KFU Oleg Romanko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“If we are talking about history, when this case with Ukrainian nationalists was closed, then it was by Khrushchev’s decree in 1955, when he freed them all. For the most part, they fought against Ukrainian nationalism in conjunction with the propaganda struggle, with the agent struggle, when they were sent there to their organizations. But on the territory of the USSR it was believed that this was no longer the case, these people repented and were punished. They were even allowed to work in government bodies, to be elected, even to work in universities, the fruits of which were reaped in late Soviet times, and we are still reaping now. And plus this notorious friendship of peoples in the USSR, internationalism, when the criminal had no nationality.

A nationalist, he is a bourgeois nationalist. And what nationality is the second question. Therefore, there is a lot that can be said on this topic. But the genesis, the roots of modern problems lie there, among other things,” he noted.

Denazification of Ukraine, according to Romanko, is possible only through the use of military force and propaganda.

“The point is that there must be an integrated approach to this. Ukrainian nationalism, although it is a primitive ideology, is old, quite strong, and well-established. Their ideologies have their own history, and if we look and read, yes, we can laugh at the 140-thousand-year history of Ukraine. However, Ukrainian nationalism is 150 years old. This is even quite old nationalism, one might say that they have already written everything for themselves in their ideology of what should be, and they will not turn away from this path. Therefore, of course, there must be an integrated approach. This is demlitarization by military force, and this is propaganda, as much as possible,” the professor believes.

“It’s difficult to do this, because there they actually put a propaganda cap over the territory, they brainwash the population and control their consciousness. And, of course, Russian resources are not available there. Somewhere it is necessary to carry out, as they called it in the good old days, operational security measures, somewhere indeed, if people do not understand, or you can no longer educate them, then all this needs to be physically eliminated.

No, I’m not so much for a radical approach, I’m for an integrated approach. Someone needs to be re-educated, of course, but we cannot exterminate and evict everyone. But there is no need, as Lenin said, to take one step forward and two steps back. Or like in Soviet times. Why are we sitting and discussing Ukrainian nationalism, which was seemingly destroyed in the fifties - because those who should have done it did not do it properly. First, Khrushchev came and with a broad gesture released everyone, saying that everything was fine, these were either victims of Stalin’s repressions, or they had already been reforged, and everyone was integrating into peaceful Soviet life. So they built in, and we see how they built in,” the scientist is convinced.

He emphasized that in the post-war period, Ukrainian nationalists tried not to contact American intelligence, since it unmasked them and often sent double agents.

“The same last commander-in-chief of the UPA, Vasily Kuk, said during interrogations that they no longer wanted to get involved with the CIA, because they only unmasked them, trying to throw some agents out of there. He said that he ordered not to contact them at all, because double agents who had already been recruited by Soviet intelligence arrived, or did not so much help as harm. But the greatest help in this matter, how much Soviet national policy brought, was the strange policy that began during the time of Khrushchev and followed,” Romanko concluded.